Is Modern Israel God's Chosen People?

 What does the Bible say? 

Apologia Studios

...except precisely that little point...

“If I profess with the loudest voice
and clearest exposition
every portion of the truth of God
except precisely that little point
which the world and the devil
are at the moment attacking,
I am not confessing Christ,
however boldly I may be professing Christ.

“Where the battle rages,
there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.

“And to be steady on all the battle fields besides
is merely flight and disgrace
if he flinches at that point.”

~ Martin Luther

Paradigm One- Interview with a bivocational Pastor

"I don't need to be their Holy Spirit"

 As always, I gotta be honest... And I'm gonna be real honest about this phrase right now. And here it is -- If I hear another person say, "I don't need to be their Holy Spirit" one more time... I'm one camel hair and two locusts away from going all John the Baptist on them. 

Ok Matt. Take a step back. Re-group. 

I get it, I get it. I'm not the Holy Spirit. You're not the Holy Spirit.  None of us is the Holy Spirit. And... the Holy Spirit needs no help!  He is doing great. He is not putting out any Help Wanted signs. He is not hiring. I know that. I get that.  

But people keep using that phrase, and I don't think it means what they think it means. 

Every single time I hear that phrase being used, it is in the context of coddling someone in their sin. So they say that to mean that they aren't going to point out that person's obvious and blatant sin. That, by itself, would be fine, but it is almost always partnered with someone attempting shelter that person from any consequences of their sin -- specifically familial and relational consequences. 

And I don't get it. 

There are about 20 reasons why I don't get it, but the biggest one and the main one is that God gives a prescription for the saving of that person's spirit on judgment day, and this behavior is actively ignoring that prescription. 

It is found in 1 Corinthians. The Corinthian church was ... surprise, surprise ... struggling with the same issues that we struggle with, one of them being sexual immorality. They were coddling these people... and being arrogant about it. (See 1 Cor. 5:1-2). So Paul lays out a way of relating to one who is actively involved in immoral behavior, but he gives hope for their soul, for their spirit. He says it plainly in verse 5: 

"you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 5:5, ESV)

If you love that person who has walked into open sin, why would you not take God at His word in how to relate to that person? Especially if you desire their soul to be saved on the Day of the Lord? 

You might be thinking, "... well... what does that actually look like?"  You're in luck!  Paul actually goes on to describe what this looks like!

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one." (1 Corinthians 5:9–11, ESV)

Not even eat!  Sure... don't be their Holy Spirit!  But don't get in the way of the Holy Spirit! This getting together and pretending like nothing is wrong... like nothing is broken... actively goes against God's prescription for the saving of the soul!  This person, in their rebellion against God's laws, has aligned themselves with Satan. Handing them over means that you are giving them what they want. When you attempt to curb any relational deaths, you are preaching -- by your life and your representation of God -- that God is just fine with this and that the Holy Spirit can still bring them (in their sin) all of those Spiritual blessings. 

"... don't need to be their Holy Spirit..." I agree. But please stop being the distorted, bizarro version of the Holy Spirit.

Does this all seem judgmental of me? Sure. Unashamedly. But as Jesus said, "...judge with right judgment..." (see John 7:24b) or as Paul said in the same passage I've been sharing:

"For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:12–13, ESV)

The Clockwork Boy - Chapter 1 - New

Chapter 1: NEW

 Whirr… Click. Whirr… Click.

(muffled voice) … “... could you…”  (muffled) “... to the baker?”

Whirr… Click.  Whirr… Click.

Tommy blinked his eyes. Before him stood the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had dark brown hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. Her eyes were blue-green and sparkled with the glare of the sun that shone between the leaves of the tree that overshadowed her features. She had the most pristine little lips that seemed to be saying something to him. 

“Hello?” said the lips. “I said, ‘Could you please take this to the baker?’”

Whirr… Click. Whirr… Click.

Thoughts on Deconstructed Faith

De-Construction of one's childhood faith is a thing. The numbers of people who are dismantling their faith and abandoning it are significant. If you Google statistics on deconstructing faith, you will not find that the numbers are zero. Our Christian youth are leaving Christianity. I'll leave it to you to research this, but some of the most recent research claims that 42% of adults have deconstructed the faith of their youth. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, deconstruction is what it is called when an individual dismantles their beliefs (usually their Christian beliefs), leading to an abandonment of those beliefs. It does not always end with one walking away from their faith, but for the most part, when it is labeled as such, that is precisely what has happened. 

There are always those in the public eye that have taken this route. They usually tend to get a decent amount of attention, especially when their "celebrity" status is rooted in their Christian life. Such is the case with Christian authors and speakers or pastors. There are also those on the fringe of Christian Culture (like Rhett and Link), and much could be said concerning these deconstructionists and their impact. In fact, I believe that there are probably a few really good books out there that address this in a truly helpful way, so I am not going to attempt to address any of that in this post. Instead, I'd like to offer a few thoughts from my own experience, rooted in my own encounters... I'll leave the analytical breakdown of famous deconstruction stories and their impact for the famous people to write about. 

Ch-Ch-Ch- Changes

Before I get into my announcement, I can't help but share an announcement made by Bilbo Baggins on his a-hundred-and-eleventh birthday. (This is the version from the book, not the movie.)  If you are not a lover of excellent literature, feel free to skip it and go directly to my announcement. 

My dear People, My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burrowses, and Hornblowers, and Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses and Proudfoots. Also my good Sackville-Bagginses that I welcome back at last to Bag End. Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today!

I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am. I shall not keep you long. I have called you all together for a Purpose. Indeed, for Three Purposes!

First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits.

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Secondly, to celebrate my birthday. I should say: OUR birthday. For it is, of course, also the birthday of my heir and nephew, Frodo. He comes of age and into his inheritance today. Together we score one hundred and forty-four. Your numbers were chosen to fit this remarkable total: One Gross, if I may use the expression.

It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake; though the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion. I was only fifty-one then, and birthdays did not seem so important. The banquet was very splendid, however, though I had a bad cold at the time, I remember, and could only say 'thag you very buch'. I now repeat it more correctly: Thank you very much for coming to my little party.

I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT.

I regret to announce that - though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you - this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW.

GOOD-BYE! 

~ Bilbo Baggins' Birthday Speech, The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien