Guerrilla Redemption?

When at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee did not dispatch his army into the field to wage guerrilla war against the North, he chose the road less traveled. The choice of unconventional warfare would have been easy to justify on the surface - continued struggle for their righteous cause, hope that will to fight would soon crumble in the North. The colonists had engaged in it as part of the American Revolution. Instead, he chose the hard path of reunion and reconciliation. Many before and after him have chosen to fight.

When does guerrilla warfare become terrorism? It is oft quoted that one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. We certainly have modern examples in the Mideast, Northern Ireland, Somalia ... the list is endless, of causes that have degenerated from political advocacy to pure terrorism motivated by hatred. The unforeseen consequence of beginning a campaign of unconventional warfare is that most of the time it devolves. To engage in a sustained guerrilla war is to take the position that one’s cause is so important, so righteous, that everyone must be deprived of any kind of stability and social peace unless the rebels can get their way (or until they are annihilated to the last man). Rebel fighters choose this for both themselves and their enemies, but also for their own families.  

It sounds simple (perhaps obvious) to say that such people have been duped by the devil. He is the ultimate source of evil. Look at the choice that he and the rest of the fallen angels made. Being in the presence of YHWH and experiencing His glory, they chose to rebel. And this knowing that the consequences would be defeat, and ultimately eternal imprisonment in the lake of fire. In the meantime, they inspire humans to follow them into ultimately futile rebellion, bringing chaos to humanity, justifying evil in the service of some “higher” cause. (Terrorists are far from the only purveyors of evil, but often the most brazen.)

How is the human condition different than the angels? Simply this. We live (for now) in time and do not know the future. We have free will and can choose good or evil and then change our mind. Evidently, because the angels knew with full certainty the consequences of rebellion and choose it anyway, they are beyond repentance and redemption. But God so loved the world that He sent His uniquely begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. We are reconciled to God not because we negotiated a peace treaty, but because He paid the price for our sins, our evil choices, and delivers us from their consequences and power, through the blood of Jesus. And we have in this life the freedom to repent and choose!

What does this mean for the current political animus in our capitol? Is reconciliation possible? If there were a revival, perhaps. If Billy Graham were to rise from the dead to hold evangelistic services at the Capitol and the White House, if the Holy Spirit were to come with power, if self-righteous pols were to repent, it might be possible. Realistically, to quote Virgil, facilis descensum Averno. Grace to the politician who proves my skepticism wrong, by revealing God’s glory.

Gun Control vs. Evil in the land

No one should dispute that daily mass shootings manifest evil in our land. Unfortunately, proposed remedies do not address the root cause. The government facilitated the moral collapse of America, but is not the agent to remedy it.

Why did Germans accept the Third Reich and its extermination of 6 million Jews, or Russians accept Stalin’s pogroms and murder of 20 million of their nation? How does evil become commonplace and tolerated in a land? Sadly, it appears to be the same process that leads to individual corruption. A Biblical example can be traced in Judas: a human sin, theft (John 12:6); yielding to the devil’s temptation (John 13:2); being fully under Satan’s Control (Luke 22:3).  Trace a modern example in the heartbreaking song by Casting Crowns, It’s A Slow Fade (from the sound track of the movie Fireproof). Each violation of our conscience and the conviction of the Holy Spirit makes the next easier.

What does the individual’s path to perdition tell us about national moral collapse? The process of hardening the conscience of a nation is simply that of sharing our values, for good or bad, through common channels such as media (news, entertainment), public behavior, and ultimately social institutions and governments. What was once frowned upon becomes acceptable, and those advocating “traditional values” are labeled, marginalized, and ultimately ignored. Each new breach of a sin threshold becomes easier.

But wait! You say, only a segment of society has subscribed to that degradation. Sadly, even though only approximately one third of Germans supported the Nazi party, very few of the majority actively opposed their oppressive rule. Shirer’s tome, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, records this sad chapter.

The current vituperation of political partisanship parallels that of the pre-Civil War era. The issue then was slavery. Both sides claimed Biblical support for their position, but ultimately one side prevailed and the decision was made.[1] What issue divides us today? Sadly, it seems that we argue about whether there is any place for faith in, and obedience to God in our political life. Where did our government facilitate rebellion against God? Was it Roe vs. Wade (1973)? Engel v. Vitale (1962)?

Facilis descensus Averno.[2]  [Virgil, Aeneid, book VI, line 126]

The degradation of society can biblically be traced via Romans 1:18-32. Professing to be wise they became fools ... and rebelled against God. At both a personal and group level, rebellion against God opens the door to evil.  As Paul explained to the Romans, in rejecting God’s direction, we, with His permission, give ourselves over to vile passions and a reprobate mind, and ultimately reap what we sow. (Proverbs 22:8, Hosea 8:7, Galatians 6:7)

Since we now harvest decades of sowing, what hope is there of recovery? Even if we admit this root cause of evil in the land, how do we recover? Biblical examples are bleak. Only Rahab and her family were saved from Jericho, only Lot and his daughters from Sodom. Remember Lot’s wife. (Luke 17:32) Since the time of Christ there are examples of nations, including our own, that have had tremendous revivals in response to the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. However, it seems that modern culture is impervious.

There is a political and social point that bears further discussion. The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution starts with “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” This was interpreted in Engel v. Vitale, using the 14th amendment, to apply to the states. Thru various subsequent cases, this ultimately ended with a ban on student-led prayer, in Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe (2000). Students and school districts aren’t the Congress or a state, but dropping context allowed the Supreme Court to legalistically bam them anyway.

Gun control as a remedy for resident evil is a bit like taking aspirin for cancer. It may alleviate immediate symptoms, but does not address the root cause. We may argue that the 14th amendment was implemented in the environment of abolishing slavery and establishing federal sovereignty for that purpose. Gun ownership and exercise of religion are protected in the same bill of rights (2^nd & first amendments, respectively), but they are not the same kind of thing. The legal interpretation of some rights as absolutes and others as context-sensitive seems Pharisaical. (Matthew 23:24) The missing element is that in rebellion against God, evil is free to flourish irregardless of legal rights or restraining laws. We can’t legislate what is in people’s hearts. But if we have legislated God out of the picture, we have removed the only potential remedy for evil.

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[1] The connection of the Emancipation Proclamation to the victory of the Union is discussed in my Memorial Day blog.

[2] The descent to hell is easy

Too Realistically X-rated for the Hallmark Channel

Book Review - The Masterpiece - by Francine Rivers

This “romance” novel could never be made into a Hallmark channel movie, in any conceivable space-time continuum. The gritty but realistic, in-depth depiction of the impact of parents’ dysfunctional lives on children when they grow up cannot be shown in a G-rated program. The story asks , can these people find love in any real sense (something beyond elevated pulse rates and swooning over steamy kisses)? Depends on a few things:

• What love is: a decision to commit to another person’s well-being.
• Growing up enough to make that kind of decision, not being driven by sentimentality, nor wallowing in wants and feelings.
• Overcoming the generational curses that adult children inherit from their parents 
• Being willing to learn from the school of hard knocks.

These are the themes that this book explores in graphic but fascinating detail.

If there is any shortcoming in this novel, it is the deus ex machina conclusion that results in the protagonists living happily ever after. Really? Three months of pre-marital counseling that is passed over in one paragraph. Granted, for a novel of this length, the reader is ready for the author to resolve all issues keeping happiness away from our heroes. But this is the Hallmark Channel approach to romantic tension and conflict. Could a novel be written (and would it be subsequently read?) that walks through the storms of counseling, of confronting deeply buried childhood wounds, breaking agreement with ghosts of the sins of the fathers visited on the second and third generation? The realism of conflict in life trumped by the fantasy of fairy tale endings. Perhaps we need these endings because our own life is so painful. 

One takeaway challenge: we as parents have transmitted our own dysfunction to our children. Everyone has, since Adam and Eve. What can we do? I see three specific thrusts, not part of this or any novel I have ever read:

• Seek out appropriate help to confront and renounce our own inherited and self-chosen sin: Counseling; pastoral care; personal self-examination (The examen prayer).
• Be honest with our children about our own failures and encourage them to seek and receive whatever practical help they can to shed the baggage we have left them. To renounce all agreements they have made with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
• In prayer, plead the blood of Jesus over our children, to break the curse of generational inherited sin.

Migrants & Human Sacrifice: A Warning From Herman Cortes

Human sacrifice is the thread that connects the ancient Israelites, Herman Cortes, and the current flood of migration. More specifically, God’s hatred of it.

• God’s judgment on societies that brazenly endorse lawlessness usually comes through external parties, such as the Israelites destruction of the Canaanites. (But not always, cf. Genesis 19:24-25). Cortes, unwittingly or intentionally, brought such to the Aztec nation.
• The Canaanites feared the Israelites because they recognized YHWH among them, and sensed that their gods could not protect them. (Joshua 2:9-11) Is fear of migrants really fear that God’s favor is not on us?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt in tents as a sign to the Canaanites of impending judgment. However, it is faith and obedience that God honors, not external behaviors. 

Abraham was a migrant who is credited with looking for that city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:10) He did not find a resting place in the world, did not receive what was promised, because God has provided something better than a city of gold. (Hebrews 11:39) The Israelites later left Egypt under duress. Joshua led them to dispossess and destroy the Canaanites under orders, because their iniquity was ripe. (Genesis 15:16)

Was Herman Cortes directed by God like Joshua, or simply God’s unwitting tool, to end an evil culture that worshipped false gods through human sacrifice? The church eventually sent missionaries and priests to follow and travel with the soldiers as the Spanish empire developed. Visible reminders of this can be seen  along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and El Camino Real in California. Coronado later searched in vain for cities of gold, with no mention of human sacrifice by the Zuni (that I can find).

In Scripture, reference to cities and streets of gold (Rev. 21:18 & 21) has the purpose of symbolizing God’s nature and character. Other places connect gold to the great harlot of Revelation. (17:4, 18:16) The difference between can be best understood in Hebrews 11:10.

Contrast this with the pilgrims and puritans who came to New England. They came looking for freedom, especially to worship without being under the thumb of the Church of England. They attempted to convert the native Americans. They prospered, but not in the sense of finding treasure troves of gold. Their legacy is the culture and belief system that underlies the founding of this nation. 

What are modern migrants seeking? Most likely, a better life. Is the attraction of moving from Central America to the U. S. as a citadel of faith and freedom to worship God according to their own conscience? Fleeing poverty and oppression?  Perhaps is the opportunity they seek framed entirely in economic and political terms? The streets of Los Angeles are not paved with gold. The most recent pictures suggest that what awaits migrants is much more akin (in physical terms) to dwelling in tents, but even so, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? (Hebrews 11:9). Unfortunately, the homeless tent encampments in major cities seem to be largely characterized by drug abuse, crime (the homeless being mostly victims), and begging for survival.  

The city of The Angels in Southern California is not the earthly realization of that City described in Revelation 21, which the heroes of faith sought per their encomium in Hebrews 11. Those already living in the U.S. and enjoying the earthly fruit of early immigrants’ heritage may or may not be inclined to share with new migrant arrivals, depending on their political persuasion. Their souls are just as much at risk as the souls of those seeking earthly empire like Cortes, if they focus on the things of this world instead of seeking the God of creation and redemption. 

Do modern human sacrifices of abortion to the gods of convenience, pleasure, craven lust, irresponsibility, or ambition result in God using migrants to destroy our society and culture just as Joshua did the Canaanites and Cortez the Aztecs? Is this really about migrants, or God’s chastisement (and warning) to us? Several states have instituted laws significantly limiting abortion, which the liberal establishment hopes to nullify through the courts. But what of the people of our nation? It makes little difference who wins in courts or legislatures if we, the people, rebel against God. Redemption is found only through repenting of and changing our mind about our own sin, and receiving the gracious gift of God, so that we change our lives.

A closing observation: The gods whom the Canaanites served with human sacrifice were powerless against YHWH. The evil of human sacrifice is ultimately impotent.  (Joshua 2:24)

The cold, hard reality of love - a review of C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves.

What this book is not: a sentimental love prescription or description; a claim that love will fix all your problems; or an advert for The Hallmark Channel (not that their staff would have time & inclination to read such a book). Lewis translates four Greek words from the New Testament into modern language and explores them: affection (storge), friendship (Phileo), romantic love (Eros), and charity (agape). [To be clear, Lewis distinguishes Eros, romantic love, from Venus, sexual activity, despite the modern usage of “erotic”.] It is not as though types of love are mutually exclusive either in our day or in the New Testament, but to the extent they have conceptual focus, their practice and implications can be intellectually addressed.  One form of love, practiced consistently, can lead to another, or a blurring in which no clear line is drawable.

Two books bookend Lewis’ marriage to Joy Davidman. Lewis married her in 1956, the year that Till We Have Faces was published; she passed away in 1960, when The Four Loves was published. Lewis draws on his academic background in literature to cite examples that were perhaps familiar to his contemporaries, but often mysteries to us of the 21st century. He equally fluently refers to the Bible. I suspect his marriage was the strongest influence on this book.

Lewis begins by defining Need-love and Gift-love. These span the gamut of above-identified types as a basic description of human behavior. Some love out of need - for companionship, affirmation, devotion of another, sexual desire, and so forth. Others (primarily God, but humans can) love because that is their innate nature, to pour out their blessings, their life for the benefit of another. So mothers typically love their children.

Pain colors Lewis’ entire discussion of love. In the chapter on Eros, Lewis points out that Ephesians 5:25 links the headship of husband  over wife to Christ giving Himself for His bride, the church. There is pain for the lover (the crown of thorns, the cross) and pain for the beloved rising from being corrected and chastened (as the Church is). Anyone who has been married for a period understands this. But this is only one example. How does agape love respond when:

•      A son asks for his inheritance while his father is alive, then squanders it in riotous living?

•      A woman is caught in the act of adultery?

•      A leader brought from being a shepherd to ruling as a king commits adultery and arranges the murder of his lover’s husband?

•      Ones’ closest friends and disciples deny knowing him?

Phileo, storge, and Eros would all be destroyed by such actions unless there is underneath them an artesian well of agape. And so our transactional loves must give way to eternal gift-love to prepare us for eternity with God in Heaven, where we will be like the angels.

Ultimately, loving God with all of our being is still need-love because we need Him, but it also empowers loving our neighbors as ourselves. How do we respond when Love is betrayed? Humanly we would say the relationship has been smashed beyond repair. Agape that transcends comes from faith that is not merely a theoretical or abstract desire or prayer for another’s blessing, but a painful, transactional redemption - embracing the crown of thorns, the scourging, the lashes, and the cross. This is the gateway to heaven, resurrection, and eternity.

Book Review: The Lost World of the Flood by Longman & Walton

The Lost World of the Flood, by Tremper Longman III & John H. Walton, follows the paradigm of Walton’s earlier books on Genesis 1 and Adam & Eve. The core of his ansatz is that we can best understand Scripture by taking account of the culture of the people to and through whom God revealed His word, as He communicated to them (the original recipients) in language they would understand. This is not just words and figures of speech, but includes their cultural view of existence based on beliefs, history, and mythology. Professor Walton has access to a large body of archaeological ancient texts from ancient Mesopotamia. This approach confronts the literalist approach to interpreting Scripture, in that metaphors and hyperbole are taken as meaning how people of that time understood them, and not as we of the 21st century would understand them. “The whole earth,” for example, to people of ancient Mesopotamia could have meant the world they knew about or perhaps, for rhetorical purposes, to emphasize how great destruction was.

The important point of the flood narrative in Genesis is not the scientific description of a destructive flood, but the divine imperatives that God is communicating to His people. As humankind filled the earth, they had been directed to bring order out of chaos, and given other specific directives by God. As the generations passed, ignorance and rejection of divine imperatives led to a chaotic, wicked state ... but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The authors go into considerable detail about how God’s direction and intervention in the flood differed from the interpretations of other extant flood legends which invoked pagan deities. 

Part of the book considers the arguments for and against a literal worldwide flood as we would understand it today. This is probably the weakest part of the book. Geological evidence is strong but not compelling, as it may well in the future be interpreted differently. The authors’ rebuttal to the argument that the existence of flood legends around the world point to a worldwide flood is weak, amounting to mere assertion. Fortunately, this is not the primary focus of the book. The point is to understand how the flood account fits into the Biblical narrative of sin, judgment, and redemption from Adam to Abraham. God’s plan for mankind was stymied by humanity, but maintained a continuity of faith, until He was able to initiate the plan of  salvation with the call to Abraham.

The Reality of Transcendent Prayer

Jesus’ Transcendent Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13 records Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request (Luke 11:1) to teach them to pray.  He taught them to plead with God to empower them to transcend.

Verse 9 Hallelu YHWH Ab: Eternal Father, Your Name is worthy to be praised. You are perfectly holy and perfectly loving, a perfect Father, who never approves of sin and yet always loves Your children. We cannot reconcile these except through the cross of Christ (which was yet future when Jesus taught). 

Verses 10 & 13 speak of overcoming the world, the flesh, and Satan (1 John 2:14-16) and thus package the realities of daily life (vs 11-12).

Verse 10 While we may eagerly anticipate Jesus’ second coming, His kingdom is established here and now in our daily life when we do His will. There seems to be ambiguity in the passive voice as to who is to do His will ... but as C. S. Lewis wrote, “I fully agree that ‘Thy will be done’ should principally be taken in the sense ‘God’s will has blank well got to be done even if I have to go and do it myself.’” (Letter to Valerie Pitt, May 17, 1956) The world is thus transcended with our participation in building His kingdom, before His parousia.

Verse 11 Throughout human history, probably most of mankind had to rely on God’s provision to avoid starvation. Practice of daily faith and relationship with Him thereby brings daily experience of His supernatural intervention. Talk to the homeless. That is their reality. To those of us with enough physical provision, He said “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:48-51) Manna in the wilderness, the bread of the Passover, the Lord’s supper all picture for us this spiritual reality. Our spiritual life depends on daily partaking of Him as bread for our spirit. Without His daily spiritual provision our spirit will starve to death.

Verse 12 This simple principle is terrifying in implication, transforming in application. If we do not forgive others, He will not forgive us. Eternal judgment awaits our sin unless....  But when we follow His example (Luke 23:34), we experience not only His forgiveness, but the amazing redemption of our relationships with others. He supernaturally works to bring conviction, repentance, and redemption to those who annoy us, even to those we deem evil beyond hope of salvation. 

Verse 13 The flesh is weak, and Satan seeks to destroy us. God does not tempt - that is the devil’s tool (Genesis 3:1-5). To be led away from the vicinity of temptation is to be in the proximity of the Lord. Jesus overcame both sin and evil on the cross; we need to receive His provision. He tells us to ask for it. 

And all these petitions bring us into His eternal kingdom right now: His power manifest in our life; His glory revealed; a foretaste of eternity with Him. So be it!