Visit Monticello

Monticello embodies the stark contrast between the ideals of our founding fathers and the reality of their lives. The architecture, shown on the obverse of the nickel, is fascinating in detail and in person. Thomas Jefferson wrote the magnificent proclamation in the Declaration of Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Tours show the extent to which the third president was reliant on the labor of over 100 enslaved people to maintain his lifestyle and the magnificent mansion. Guides discuss his relationship with his slave Sally Hemings, half-sister of his wife, and the children they had together after his wife’s death.

Jefferson was aware of this contradiction. Tour guides mention a statement he often quoted, attributed to Tiberius Caesar, to describe slavery. “But, as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.”

TJ was not a confederate hero, although he had some of the same issues. Antebellum Southern culture erected an elaborate biblical justification for why slavery was moral and approved by God. Abolitionists believed the Bible taught that slavery was an evil to be fought and ended. Who was misreading Scripture? TJ knew that slavery was unjust, even though he did not hold a high view of the Bible.

What does the Bible say about slavery?

•      The Bible acknowledges slavery as a fact of life in the world, without justifying it. Under Mosaic law, it was recognized that an Israelite might sell himself for his debts, or that foreigners captured in war might be made slaves. (Leviticus 25:39-46)   Moses gave rules for treatment and freeing  (redemption) of slaves; and the year of Jubilee required Israelites to free slaves every 50 years. (Leviticus 25:54)

•      Under the new covenant, in the Roman Empire, slavery was also a fact of life. Paul gave instructions for treatment of slaves (Ephesians 6:9, Colossians 4:1) but also encouraged believing slaves to obtain freedom if they could. (1 Cor 7:21-23) Paul’s epistle to Philemon encouraged (but did not order) Onesimus’ owner to accept him back as a brother, not a slave. (Philemon 16)

•      Paul referred to love-slaves (Exodus 21:5-6) as a type of our relationship to Christ. (1 Peter 2:16), to encourage devoted service to Christ.

How can we summarize the Biblical position on chattel slavery? The above all do not add up to a theological basis for defending it. The most that can be said is that the Bible commends slavery to God as preferable to slavery to man, slavery to sin worst of all, and that believing slaveowners were commanded very specifically as to how they were to treat slaves, as they will be held accountable.

Racism is often conflated with slavery in the modern world. There is a sharp difference between Old & New Testaments in the context and treatment of inter-racial relations.

•      Under the Mosaic law, and during the conquest and occupation of the promised land, Israelites were warned against intermingling with the Canaanites. The evil embedded in the Canaanite culture had to be eradicated to not infect Israel. Even so, Canaanites who came under the Mosaic Law (e.g. Rahab, Ruth) were accepted and lauded for their faith, and are in the bloodline leading to Jesus Christ. (Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31)

•      Under the new covenant there is no racial or cultural distinction in Christ. (Col. 3:11; Galatians 3:28)

Visiting Monticello, I had to wonder how TJ thought of Sally Hemings. (Ecclesiastes 4:1) Did he see her as property to be used for his own enjoyment? As a person with inalienable rights “married” to him, that his society and culture prevented him from acknowledging legally? Did she see herself as a common-law wife? As a doulos - a love-slave according to Ex 21:5-6? Take the slavery tour while at Monticello, and contemplate the consequences of sin, and the consummation of human history:

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

None of us lives up to God’s call, although that does not excuse us from our duty. How great is the grace of God that one day we, who name Jesus as our Savior, shall stand before Him with those from every race who so name Him. And we shall be found in Him not as slaves, but as welcome sons.

Chemo for sin

Governments believe they can bring a return to Eden by controlling their citizens or by  implementing massive programs of jobs, education, healthcare, public assistance, and so forth. Anti-government militias and non-state actors believe they can bring heaven on earth by destroying existing governments by violence so that they can implement their own programs, typically a rules-based order for society, with their version of the rules.

Jesus laughs (Psalm 2:4). God’s planned for each person individually walk with Him (Jesus) in the garden in the cool of the morning. But since we all have ingrained sin, we need the chemotherapy of Jesus’ blood to cleanse us so that we can walk with Him. Jesus laughs over the ridiculous idea that governments or any human organization, by force or law, can bring paradise on earth.

Cancer might be an apt metaphor for government, but better pictures sin. What is the fundamental difference between cancer and healthy growth and development?

• Healthy cells reproduce to replace cells that are aged, damaged or destroyed. Cancer cells reproduce unchecked, having lost mechanisms to monitor and control reproduction.
• Healthy cells communicate with other cells chemically. Cancer cells do not respond to signals from other cells, hence their uncontrolled reproduction.
• Healthy cells adhere to neighboring cells; cancer cells do not.
• Healthy cells specialize to perform specific functions within the body. Cancer cells are unspecialized and do nothing useful.
• Healthy cells self-destruct when they are damaged or diseased. Cancer cells do not.

All of these attributes might make cancer cells sound royal, powerful or immortal. Actually they reveal that life without context, relationship, purpose, and self-control becomes ultimately destructive of those nearby and of self. When cancer has its way, its victim dies.

Medical science treats cancer with a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.  Surgery removes macroscopic accumulations of cancer cells, and tissue that is infested. Radiation kills all cells within its beam focus without regard to health. Chemotherapy attempts to target cancer cells specifically.

How can God treat our sin? If it is big enough, its consequences will be self-destruction, but may also result in the destruction of the sinner. Sadly this is all-too-common  in those who have rejected God’s pleading. Radical surgery can potentially remove the offensive growth but carries life consequences - similar to a missing limb or organ. It is the blood of Jesus, applied to our life, that has the capability to target sin at a microscopic level and distinguish healthy thoughts, words, and deeds from sinful ones. But … a big but … the predilection of our heart for right or wrong will determine the efficacy of the treatment. If we continue to infect new thoughts, words, and deeds with sin, the treatment fails, leading ultimately to more extreme measures.

God conditions the idyllic life of Eden or heaven on believing His words so that we can fellowship with Him. Genesis 3 is unambiguous. Since all have sinned in the likeness of Adam’s offense, the only remedy is Jesus’ blood. No government can control the behavior of its citizens, and only deters defined crimes like murder, assault, theft, rape and so on. Courts can neither know nor change the heart of offender, and struggle even to establish the facts about actions. Only the promise of the return of Christ to establish His kingdom will bring justice and peace on earth.  His blood is the prerequisite to continuous fellowship with Him, the elimination of sin in our lives.

The Spiritual Carnot Cycle

The spiritual Carnot cycle converts spiritual power into God’s work on earth. Every engineer who has completed a thermodynamics class has learned about thermodynamic cycles of engines that convert heat into mechanical work, for example the Carnot cycle, the Brayton cycle, the Otto cycle, and the Rankine cycle. What is the spiritual Carnot cycle?

• A person at a low state of spirituality enters this cycle when he begins to sense the workings of the Holy Spirit in his life, revealing God’s real presence, nature, and character, drawing that person into a closer relationship. The individual’s spiritual fervor begins to increase. 
• As it continues, a spiritual high point is achieved, not in a pejorative sense of inebriation, but a sense of joy and exhilaration in the Lord’s manifest presence. This spiritual mountaintop brings new wonders of the heavenlies, and amazing answers to prayer, increasing and continuing closeness of the believer to the Lord. 
• The next phase begins when the Lord begins to withdraw the sense of His presence. The believer continues in fervent faith, not slowing in behaviors associated with the manifest presence of the Lord. As he works for the Lord, the fruit is still there but not the sense of His presence. The believer must labor in faith. God’s kingdom is built.
• This phase transitions gradually to the final phase of spiritual deflation, called desolation by Ignatius. All sense of God’s presence and power have vanished. The believer reflects wistfully on how wonderful it once was, and wonders if God’s presence will ever return. Ignatius offered several guidelines for this phase. At some point, God begins to work again, and the cycle starts anew. 

There are two aspects of work accomplished during this cycle. Firstly, God’s power is manifested in the presence of unbelievers when the believer speaks and acts in faith. This is all the more powerful when the believer acts knowing what the Lord calls him to, but without sensing His presence. God’s kingdom is built and He is glorified in the world, and enters the lives of those living without Him. Secondly, the believer learns more of God’s nature and character in the contrast of the phases. He desires to become and be more like God, and learns how dependent he is on a God for even the simplest aspect of godliness. 

The unspiritual Carnot cycle accomplishes exactly the opposite. Without diving into detail, it involves people taking their needs (food, housing, medical problems) to the government. The government provides, resulting both in glorification of human institutions, and codependency between individuals and government. There is no spiritual growth, but the reverse. 

The work of spiritual cycles is not some mystical, mysterious secret. God exhibited His plan in plain sight for all of recorded history. Doubters may whine about God’s unfairness, but He is being gracious in revealing His ways. Although our actions should always exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, our spiritual walk will be stronger as we recognize and cooperate with the Lord, in the way He chooses to deal with us.

The Storm of God's Grace

In Genesis 9:11 & 15, God promised He would never again destroy the world by flood. But that doesn't mean there won’t be storms. The rainbow is His sign that He will not wipe out all mankind by a flood.

The story of Paul’s voyage to Rome (Acts 27) illustrates how bad these storms of life can be. Millennia before global warming triggered frequent superstorms, he spent two weeks with 275 of his closest friends trapped inside a violent storm on a ship as a Roman prisoner. Taking this as a type of a storm of life, perhaps we can learn a bit about God’s dealings with us.

Paul knew the danger and warned the centurion and ship’s captain. However, the professional sailor dissed Paul’s advice and sailed into the storm. (Acts 27:11) At first, they thought they had succeeded. (27:13) But God does not suffer fools to persist long in their self-centered delusions. (27:14)

Recognizing their plight, they began to throw cargo overboard. (27:18) Everyone, regardless of their spiritual condition, knows that dire circumstances require us to shed the less important to get or keep the most important. Why does it take a life-threatening storm for us to remember this?

God was with Paul and all those on board through the storm. He sent an angel to encourage Paul (27:23-24). Paul responded by encouraging everyone on board with a strong statement of faith. (27:25) The angel noted that God had granted Paul the life of all of his traveling companions - even his Roman captors. What a blessing to be able to speak words of life and hope to the unbelievers and desperate around us! Perhaps they will only hear us if we experience the storms of life together.

The sailors wanted to abandon their posts, but were thwarted by Paul and the Roman soldiers. (27:30-32) Lest we condemn these sailors too harshly, how many of us have been tempted to flee tough circumstances, to take the easy way out? But that is not how God works. He forms and refines us in the midst of the fire. There is a gospel song by the Speers about Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace, that ends with the chorus, “...He’s still in the fire.” Daniel’s friends were delivered from it, but the Fourth Man did not come out. That’s where God works. Our bonds are consumed and we are set free; He is there with us. God’s Grace even deals with pagan sailors in the storm. The world isn’t terribly enthusiastic about this aspect of God’s ways.

As the ship approached shore, the soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to prevent their escape. (27:42-43). However, the centurion spared them and all made it safely to shore. Although disaster tests the souls of men, God is still there.

The Lord was indeed gracious to them in the storm. Is this a type to indicate that ultimately all will be saved? Jesus taught otherwise. He used the metaphor of houses built on sand vs. rock. He warned that “…everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a moron who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the rivers rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great fall.” (Matt. 7:26-27)

The storms of life test us all, whether or not we experience Harvey, Irma, or Maria. Physical storms give us a graphic picture of the consequences of going through them without the Lord at our side.

Eulogy for the Living

 Moving eulogies in the film The Fault in our Stars implicitly ask the question, why do we wait until people are gone to talk about how much they mean to us?

We have a practice in the People of Praise* of honoring people at their birthday celebration. Honoring people is not for the purpose of puffing them up or stroking their ego. It is a Holy Spirit-inspired means to encourage people in their faith-walk. God takes note of acts of faith and obedience, and sometimes those around them do, too. With all the trash talk in the world, why be silent on the fruit of redemption in peoples’ lives until it is time to mourn their passing? What better legacy can we leave the next generation than recognizing the value of serving God?

The great challenge in this is to avoid pitfalls such as:

·        Sounding holier-than-thou, putting on airs that we and the people we hang out with are better, Godlier than others. Sanctimonious self-righteousness is neither attractive nor something we want to encourage in others.

·        Conveying the idea that we can earn salvation, God’s blessing, or His approval, through acts of service to Him.

·        Causing those we honor to have an unhealthy response in their lives and hearts; we have to recognize that it is God’s redemptive work, His power in their lives, that we are recognizing.

Eulogies are literally good words. Those we know and love mean much to us, by enriching our lives in so many ways. Can we at least once per year verbalize our feelings and the reasons for them, to give voice to all that has eternal value?

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*The People of Praise is a Christian, Ecumenical, Charismatic fellowship with branches in a variegated assortment of locations.

Damascus Then and Now

Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, “The Road to Damascus”, which aired on June 21, 2017, graphically exemplifies the stark difference between politics and faith. He relates the story of a CIA asset whose identity was compromised in the struggle between the CIA, Congress, and the press.  Malcolm draws the parallel of this individual to the story of Saul of Tarsus who became the apostle Paul. Except that, in this case, the CIA source, who was originally allowed by the CIA  to repent and try to expiate for earlier sins, was later exposed to the judgment of a much larger part of the government, leaked to the press, and murdered by his previous henchmen. Malcolm details the sanctimonious self-righteousness of all the parties involved in the leak. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that the United States government broke trust with this man. It was always somebody else to blame.

Why was the early church able to accept Saul after his conversion experience? It was probably very hard, especially for those whose relatives or friends had been locked up or murdered by Saul.  There are probably a number of factors towards his acceptance.

•     Saul had met Jesus face to face and had a radical transformation. 

•     Peter had his own experience of betrayal and deep repentance and knew that he had no standing to judge Paul for prior actions.

•     The basis of first century Christianity was that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and therefore all must repent and be saved.

What are politics like in the Kingdom of God? Not the College of Cardinals but the throne room of God? They are informed by two over-arching realities: the direct revelation and presence of God; and the universal knowledge by those in God’s presence of the fallen state of mankind and redemption by grace. Christ tells us that we will reign with Him. How will we govern without falling into one of the traps so pervasive in our time, such as legalism, lack of standards, unsanctified mercy, or self-righteousness?

Jesus taught His disciples to pray for His kingdom to come on earth just like it is in heaven, and His kingdom is being built right before our eyes. We have the opportunity to join. Jesus showed us what it will look like when we do. Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle in Jesus’ kingdom. He was ultimately turned over to the Roman Empire for ultimate execution by his former henchmen, but not by the Christians who accepted him. The important point is that his life and death were not in vain in eternal matters, unlike the lives of most of our sanctimonious, self-righteous politicians. 

The cyber-battle of Jericho

News media obsession with cyber meddling in the last election focuses only on the tip of the iceberg. Beneath hacking into voter registration computers are enormous cyber warfare capabilities, likely in all major nations. Disruption by cyber-criminals, who steal credit card information to sell on the dark web, encrypt hard drives for ransom, or cause other disruptions to manipulate stock prices, is only a small sample of what international cyberwar might include.

Our economy’s complete dependence on the internet, coupled with these capabilities to bring it down, risks catastrophe. Firewalls and malware scans unable to keep out cyber-thieves and cyber-data-kidnappers will collapse under the assault of state-sponsored cyberattacks. The denizens of evil have some justification for their belief that they have the upper hand, or so it appears.

When Joshua and the Israelites marched around Jericho for seven days, most likely the residents had no idea what was going on. On the seventh day after seven loops around the city, the Israelites blew their trumpets and the walls fell down. (Joshua 6:20-21) The residents of Jericho were killed (except for Rahab and her family), which probably was not what they expected. And so, when the walls of western civilization are destroyed, whether by cyber-warfare or moral collapse (whatever tools the devil plans to destroy humankind with), the kingdom that God is building in plain sight, unseen by the world, will stand. (Hebrews 12:27)

This kingdom that Christians pray frequently to come is characterized by God's love and operates according to His ways. This includes doing His will on earth, His daily provision, forgiveness by Him and by His people of each other, choices to steer clear of temptation, and His deliverance from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13) Since the Internet aggressively counters all of these values and practices, the coming cyberwar will be God's instrument to destroy it. Western "civilization" may be collateral damage, when that which can be shaken is removed and that which cannot be shaken remains.