2009: The Best Year Ever

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

The economy tanked in 2008. Most people expect the government to save us. A few trust in the free market and themselves. Only a very few expect Our Heavenly Father to provide them with their daily bread.

The Secular Progressives, as Bill O'Reilly likes to call them, won control of the Congress, the White House, and future federal court appointments. The Republican party, a weak sister on cultural issues in the best of times, is confused and conflicted.

Talk radio is dominated by conservatives sympathetic to vaguely Judeo-Christian ethics, but it's mostly listened to by old guys, not minorities, women, or the young. Fox News is fair and balanced, but almost nobody else is, especially when it comes to social issues. (Unfortunately "fair and balanced debates" often lead to advocates of sexual perversion and advocates of the Ten Commandments being seen as equals.) The Internet, though a potentially powerful tool, is an a' la carte menu, with no focus. Thousands of leaders, facilitators, imitators, etc. are needed before the Internet can make a long term Christian impact.

Hollywood values continue to shape the culture. The Bible believing churches are self-absorbed, doctrinally compromised, and culturally impotent. The Christian college, Christian day school, and Christian homeschooling movements have failed, thus far, to raise up a generation of culture creating believers.

Things are a mess. There is no quick fix. So how can 2009 be the best year ever? Well, if your heart is as grieved as mine is over the things I have noted, as well as a million more things which I left unmentioned, then there is hope. Let's start by allowing ourselves to mourn over our own personal sin and the sin of God's people. Let's mourn over the misery which accompanies the sinful deeds of our neighbors. When we do I suspect it will become more apparent to us what we can do to alleviate that misery, to manifest the kingdom, and to do the will of the Father, on earth as it is done in heaven. Mourn and be comforted.

Here I Raze And Raise My Ebenezer

If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.

Ebenezer Scrooge, prior to his nocturnal transformation, had a way with words. To bad he had to get all sentimental in the end. Through the years I have often found myself in agreement with his original thoughts regarding the ubiquitous "Merry Christmas" greeting. Being a Puritan by conviction and a contrarian by disposition I have always been inclined to knock the celebration of Christmas and all of its' glorious superficiality.

Now I find myself a staunch defender of the "Merry Christmas" greeting. "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" are meaningless. The traditional, "Merry Christmas" while trite, constitutes a significant statement, unconscious though it may be on the part of the greeter, about our culture's Christian heritage. And I am all about rebuilding Christendom from those remaining ruins. So every time the American Family Association informs me that some corporation has excised the word, Christmas, from its advertisement or refuses to allow their employees to say "Merry Christmas" to their customers, I email my protest.

That brings me back to the Ebenezer thing. I have concluded that I have to "raze" the spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge, at least a little bit so that I can promote the revitalization of Christendom. Like Samuel of old, I want to raise my Ebenezer, the stone of help, otherwise known as Jesus, in this season which Christendom has chosen, without consulting me as to the wisdom of the matter, for celebrating Christ's incarnation. Bah Humbug and Merry Christmas!

Calling on Their Savior

Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's... So they said, "You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

When we read the last section of Genesis we find ourselves in awe of what God did through Joseph. That's as it should be. God preserved his people by rescuing Jacob's family from starvation. Hurray! In fact we even find ourselves pleased for the pagans. The Egyptians were delivered from famine. Hurray! But wait, maybe we shouldn't be so happy. We forget that the means used to deliver the Egyptians from the famine left Pharaoh in control of the entire economy and the people as tenants on their own land. So desperate were they for food that they gave up their independence to became the servants of their savior, Pharaoh. Not so good that.

Throughout the world people are turning to their governments to deliver them from the financial crisis. They are crying out to be saved from ruin. "Rescue us from our irresponsible debt. Use your magical power to turn our worthless pieces of paper into something of value. Bail us out now!" They are calling on their savior, the State, for deliverance. No doubt the State will attempt to accommodate them, but whether or not governments can save anyone from disaster they will require servitude from their people. However merciful any particular Savior-State may turn out to be, it is certain that economic freedom will be curtailed to one degree or another. Just ask the Egyptians. In the end, we all become the servant of the one whose name we call upon for salvation.

Visualize World Christendom

I have been reading a history of Princeton Seminary by David B. Calhoun and I came across this little gem from the noted Princeton theologian, Archibald Alexander Hodge.

"Above all, in the multiplication of the myriad centres of Christian missions and of the myriad hosts of Christian workers, each in the spirit of the King seeking the very lowest and most degraded, everywhere lifting upward what Satan's kingdom has borne down, the kingdom is coming."

In the 19th century Princeton Seminary was not only a bastion of Protestant orthodoxy, but a major supplier of missionaries. The staff and students at Princeton and other, similar institutions throughout Christendom fixed their vision, their hearts, their minds, their prayers, and in some cases, their lives on the task of reaching the lost peoples of the world. There is still plenty of that work left to do in this century.

Thanks for the Remnants

As an elementary student at the local public school I sang the hymn, "Come Ye Thankful People Come" each Thanksgiving season. God's final judgement of the world is the theme of that hymn. At the time I was not yet a believer, but coming from a Christian home I never questioned any of the teachings of Christianity and had no doubt about the truth of what I was singing. Later, as a teenager, the Holy Spirit began to convince me of my own sin as well as the coming judgement before a holy God. Over the period of the next few months I was brought to a place where I cried out to God to rescue me, through his son, Jesus Christ, from the judgement which I deserved.

I couldn't possibly list everything God used in my life to bring me to repentance, but I am thankful that I grew up in a culture which still retained remnants of a Christian culture. That culture has nearly been replaced by one which is unfamiliar with basic Christian truth.
Believers sometimes find it easy to dismiss the influence of a Christian culture on the conversion of individuals by saying, "An omnipotent, gracious God can save sinners apart from any particular circumstances." Obviously he can, but he has chosen to draw people to himself through their particular personal and cultural circumstances.

The kind of culture we live in does make a difference to us and our neighbors. It's not just our present well being which is at stake, though that itself is important in God's plan for the world. Our unbelieving neighbors can benefit eternally from living in a culture informed by the Scriptures. When concepts like sin, guilt, judgement, redemption, repentance, forgiveness, etc. are commonplace in a culture it becomes easier for them to understand the life giving gospel of Christ. I know that from my own experience. Thank God for the remnants of Christendom.

Mean What You Say

But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

How simple the principles are which Jesus gives to guide us in loving our neighbors. For example, if our words can't be trusted, why would anyone listen to us. Yet, if we mean what we say we can't go wrong. This is true whether we are talking with our friends, negotiating a business deal, or swearing an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Christendom in the 21st century needs to be characterized by believers who display a genuine integrity in word and deed. In a post-modern era our neighbors may be confused about the nature of truth, but they can still figure out when a guy is a phoney and when he is serious about following Christ.

Mean what you say. That's one good place to start manifesting the reality of Christ's rule in this world. If we do that then our families, churches, schools, businesses, and even our political institutions will follow.

Post Election Analysis: The Mammon Vote

You cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore do not worry saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

It seems to me that by far the biggest voting bloc this year was what I call, the Mammon Voter. These folks cast their ballots based on their material interests to the exclusion of everything else. They can be divided into two groups. The first, and by far the larger group, voted for the candidate they believed would provide for all of their material needs in the future. The second group voted for the candidate who would allow them to keep the material goods they had already acquired for themselves.

But there was another kind of voter this year. Unfortunately, this group was probably a small minority. These voters were pursuing not their own material benefit, but rather the kingdom of God. They sought the righteousness of God. They understood the biblical priorities of life before making any decisions. They thought hard on the short term and the long term implications of their decisions. They considered what was good, in God's sight, not only for themselves, but also for their neighbors. They trusted God for what they don't have, for what they already have, and for the future. I hope that you were one of them.