Cryptocurrency (like bitcoin)–A Biblical, Christian Perspective

Bitcoin crypto cryptocurrency Christian Bible-believing perspective

I believe people have liberty in Christ to own bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies if they wish to do so.  If you bought bitcoin or other crypto before its price exploded, and you made a lot of money, I am happy for you.  However, I am staying away from it.  These are my reasons, as a Christian, to stay away from cryptocurrency.  (This article is my opinion, protected by the first amendment, not official financial advice.  I am not a financial advisor.)  This post is just the bullet points. The entire article can be read by clicking here:  Read “Cryptocurrency: A Christian, Bible-believing perspective” here.

1.) Cryptocurrency does not actively do good.

If one invests in the Christian mutual funds associated with the Eventide family of funds, he is investing in many companies that are not only attractive investments but also actively are doing good things.  At best, if one buys and holds bitcoin or other crypto, what he has purchased just sits there.  It does not do anyone any good.

2.) Cryptocurrency is very frequently used to actively do evil.

There is substantial evidence that a high percentage of cryptocurrency is used by evil people to do evil things, whether funding drug cartels, supporting human trafficking and pornography, supporting terrorist organizations, engaging in money laundering, assisting rogue regimes to evade sanctions, and the like.

3.) Cryptocurrency lends itself toward speculation, not rational investment.

I can’t explain why bitcoin should be priced at $20, $200, $2,000, $20,000, $200,000, or $0 a coin.  I can’t give you a reason why in thirty years bitcoin is likely to continue to appreciate in value, rather than becoming worthless.

4.) Your cryptocurrency can easily vanish.

If you lose your password, your crypto is gone—you can never get it back.

Furthermore, if your crypto account or wallet gets hacked, you can’t get your crypto back.

It is not surprising that crypto firm Coinbase has an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau.

The Bible says all riches are “uncertain” and we need to trust in God, not in money (1 Timothy 6:17).  However, with cryptocurrency the “uncertain” is written in all caps in flashing neon lights, surrounded by warning signs illuminated by floodlights, while sirens blare “UNCERTAIN, UNCERTAIN.”

5.) Arguments for cryptocurrency are unpersuasive.

In my opinion, arguments for crypto fail to convince. Reputable financial advisors who say to steer clear of cryptocurrency are legion.  Reputable financial advisors who even offer it as a suggestion (not a recommendation) are much less common, and those who even throw it out as a possibility say to only put a tiny percentage of one’s assets into crypto, and only if one is wealthy, and warn that one could lose 100% of the investment.

 

To read more, please read the complete post “Cryptocurrency: A Christian, Bible-believing perspective.” Feel free to comment below, but if you comment, please read the complete article first. Thanks.

 

TDR

Objections to Christians Learning Greek and Hebrew (6/7)

The first five blog posts summarizing the argument in Reasons Christians Should and Can Learn Greek and Hebrew, the Biblical Languages explained the value of learning the Biblical languages and explained that the languages are not too difficult to learn–indeed, Biblical Greek and Hebrew are easier languages to learn than modern English.  Clearly, knowing the languages is valuable and attainable.  But people have objections.

 

1.) “Greek letters look different from English ones! Hebrew letters, even more so! Greek and Hebrew must be hard languages!”

 

While some people who begin to learn Greek and Hebrew do not finish what they started, there is just about nobody that cannot learn the Greek and Hebrew alphabet.  If toddlers can learn the alphabet in Israel and in Greece, adults can learn the same alphabet in English-speaking countries.

 

2.) “Learning Greek and Hebrew is dangerous:  such knowledge makes the person who knows the languages proud.”

 

There is no reason why learning God’s Word in Greek or Hebrew would contribute to pride rather than to humility, any more than learning God’s Word in English would contribute to pride rather than to humility.

 

3.) “Learning Greek and Hebrew is too hard.”

 

This objection was already examined in the part four of this seven part series.  However, even if learning the languages was very hard, it would not be as hard as being crucified.  But all Christians are called to daily cross-bearing, so they are all already called to something that is much harder than learning Greek or Hebrew.

 

4.) “Greek and Hebrew can be abused.”

 

Yes, the Bible in Greek or in Hebrew can be abused, as can the Bible in English.  Should we refrain from learning the English language because innumerable cults and false religions abuse the English Bible?  Because many preachers who warn about the dangers of Greek and Hebrew do not even know how to properly exposit the English text, should we avoid English?

 

5.) “I do not have time to learn Greek and Hebrew—I am too busy preparing for ministry or too busy, already serving in the ministry.”

 

Over the course of a lifetime of ministry, learning Greek and Hebrew actually saves tremendous amounts of time.  Exegetical conclusions that are easily and quickly determined by an examination of the original language text are hard and time consuming to someone who does not know the Biblical languages.

 

The objections above to learning the Biblical languages are insufficient.  They do not even come close to refuting the positive case for learning Greek and Hebrew summarized in the first five sections of this blog series or in the more comprehensive work Reasons Christians Should and Can Learn Greek and Hebrew, the Biblical Languages, pages 52-57 of which are summarized here.

 

TDR

 

 

 

 

Living In Utah: My Observations

My wife, parents, and I moved into Utah mid-August 2021.  Ten years ago, it never occurred that I would live in Utah and if someone asked, I would have said, zero chance.  As Charles Dickins wrote first in The Pickwick Papers, his 1837 novel, “Never say never.” Someone recently asked where I was now, and when I said, “Utah,” he replied, “I love Utah.”  That was it.  He loved Utah.The Mormons had to leave Illinois, so 148 took seventeen months behind the leadership of Brigham Young to the Wasatch Valley, the Intermountain region of the United States, in 1847-1848.  Approximately 70,000 Mormons came over the next 22 years.  Half the population of the state is still, using their preferred title, Later Day Saint.  As you might imagine, the LDS religion has had and continues to have a huge influence on Utah.I know many here don’t like this mentioned, but, yes, there are polygamist areas of Utah, certain towns famous for their polygamy.  Jon Krakauer wrote about it in his book, Under the Banner of Heaven.  He was driving through Southern Utah, stopped in a small town to get some gas, and he noticed that someone followed him out of town to be sure he left.Besides the Mormonism, Utah is the West.  It is a Western state.  That’s different than the West Coast.  Despite LDS, the state has a Western flavor.  It looks Western.  There are gigantic mountains on both sides jutting up from a desert in the middle of which is the Great Salt Lake.  When you leave certain populated areas, you run into nothingness for many miles all around.When we arrived in August, it was dry and hot.  Your lawn won’t grow if you don’t water it.  You don’t have mosquitoes.  November and December has seen rain and snow in this valley, but especially in the mountains.  Now there are very tall white mountains everywhere and wonderful ski resorts and snow sports if you like that kind of thing.  Many do.Utah has five national parks:  Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion National Parks.  Many states have none.  A very short drive from Utah, you have Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks.  You can buy an annual pass to National Parks, so many are in driving distance, for the price of just Yellowstone.When Brigham Young reached the precipice that looked down into the valley where Salt Lake City is today, he said, “This is the place.”  They found their promised land.  Those words are now on a gigantic statue in Pioneer Park, which celebrates the Mormon founding of Utah.  Around it are statues of the founders of Utah, which were Mormons.

My Observation

Everything from here on is my observation.  I like Utah.  I think it’s a great place to live.  Statistics also prove that.  Brigham Young and those original men had a good plan.  Everything is square, usually with wide streets.  They organized everything around the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City and now the other temples built in the state, which are lit up every night.  Organized in geographic precision are also the meetinghouses, almost all looking identical, thousands spread all over the state.The Mormons brought a desire to build good buildings.  Most buildings look nice and well-built.  When I visit various doctors with and for my parents, you walk into a nice lobby and sit in a very nice waiting room.  Restaurants and hotels owned by LDS people are well built and usually well organized and served.  Clinics and hospitals are equal distance away from each other, as if they were organized for the greatest convenience for the most people.LDS people are entrepreneurial.  There are businesses popping up everywhere, what seem like more business than what could be operated by one state.  The city planning is better than other places.  Everything is very convenient.  They have everything you would want or need in close driving distance.Many businesses close on Sundays here.  I know Chick-fil-A does it, which seems strange other places, but many of them close here in Utah.  Very popular places don’t open on Sunday.  Traffic is very light on Sunday.  People don’t have to drive far to get to their meetinghouses.  When I get on the highway to go to where we are at church, it’s empty.  Very few are out there driving.If you haven’t lived here, and you move here, you notice the people.  It’s different.  Mormons are unusually friendly.  How do I know they’re Mormons?  They have a common behavior that has affected the whole state.  When I signal, drivers don’t speed up to stop me from merging.  They slow down and let me in.  I’m accustomed to fighting in traffic.  It doesn’t happen here.  Traffic isn’t bad, but even with traffic, you don’t get the sense that you might get road rage at some point.  That rage seems to be absent here.  I saw it weekly in California.I’ve been to many, many doctors appointments.  I’ve met six different doctors.  In every case, the conversation goes like this after the initial introduction.  “So you’ve just moved here, where are you from?”  I tell them where we came from.  “So what brings you here?”  I explain that I’m a Baptist pastor.  I’ve had long conversations in the office.  They take their time with you in the office, very patient.  I’ve never seen it where in public places, people talk to you about religion.

The Religion

Since I’ve been in Utah, I have evangelized, so far not close to as much as I was especially in our year in Oregon.  The neighborhoods I have evangelized have been almost 100 percent Mormon.  You knock on a door, LDS answers.  Next one, LDS answers.   Again, LDS answers.  And again, LDS answers.  You could easily get 20 Mormons in a row here.Utah does not stop you from going door-to-door.  Its people don’t discourage you from going door-to-door.  We’re going in very cold weather right now, under freezing.  They do not act like you’re strange for knocking on their door in the middle of Winter, the coldest time of the year.  You don’t feel like you’re going to be kicked out of places.  You don’t feel like some one is going to yell at you and cuss you out for ringing their door bell.  A well above average number of people will answer the door.  Very few have no-soliciting signs on their door.  This is all different for me.Talking to Mormons is all very, very similar.  They want you to think that they are Christian, that they are like you.  They’ll even thank you for coming by and doing what you’re doing, even though you are there to tell them something that they do not believe.  At your most confrontational, they still want you to think they’re the same as you, that they are Christian, and that we’re all in this together.  I don’t think it’s fake.  They do not want you to think they’re weird or in a strange religion.  In most cases, they are super, super chipper, up beat, and showing you how wonderful it all is.The Mormons cover for the strangest parts of their religion.  It almost seems like they don’t know how different and odd it is.  I’m not trying to be offensive if you’re reading this and you’re Mormon.  Talking to a 72 year old Mormon man, he told me that both John the Apostle and Moses both right now were living on the earth, and that was part of their doctrine.  I didn’t know about that one until he told me.  The wheels turned in the brain.  It is a strange bit of hermeneutics on their part and not even representative of the strangest beliefs that they have.When talking to Mormons, I find that they do not know how unorthodox they are.  They don’t know how unlike Christianity they are.  Most of them don’t know what biblical Christianity is.  Many also don’t understand their own religion enough and especially in comparison to Christianity to know how far off it is.  They are not very conversational with important parts of their doctrine.Even though Mormonism claims to be a restored religion, something restoring Christianity back to what it was at the beginning, the proof for major doctrines comes down to Joseph Smith, some of the original influential leaders, Brigham Young, and then future presidents.  Certain key men, writers and thinkers, took on the task of trying to put together all these disparate sources into a cohesive Mormon doctrine book from the quilt work of contradictions.I could start with something as simple as who Jesus Christ is.  Mormons are not sure about Jesus, at least as I’ve talked to them so far.  They do not know who God is.  A main reason, I’ve found, is that there is so much difference of opinion in Mormon writing.  The human authors of Mormonism, and it really is all humanly devised, even though they claim to have received it from God, disagree with one another.  Later, editors really, have had to try to piece it all together.Here’s a simple one.  Christianity, the Bible, says that Jesus was God who became man.  Mormonism says that Jesus was man who became God.  When did Jesus become God?   In Mormon doctrine, Jesus was man first and then God.LDS call Jesus eternal God.  You might think that means eternity past.  It doesn’t, but then it doesn’t depending on how you explain it.  Everyone splinters off an original one spiritual deity.  Maybe they mean that now Jesus is eternal God, eternal as in future, but not in past, because even God wasn’t God in eternity past, unless he’s that one Spirit off of whom God splintered from.  Anyway, it’s tough.I know Mormons want us, they and I, to be the same.  We’re not.  A good way to point that out without waiting is to say that when Joseph Smith received his first vision in the grove, where the father and son appeared to him in physical bodies, that they told him that all other religions were wrong.  I tell them, I’m not offended.  It’s just that we know we don’t believe the same according to Joseph Smith.  And that’s important.  We’re not the same.  We can’t both be right.Even if you can persuade a Mormon that what they teach is wrong, giving them actual proof, they can still fall back on new revelation from God, either given to their President or to themselves personally.  Their gift of the Holy Spirit, means He still speaks to them.  Even if they don’t like Joseph Smith, God can give them the same doctrine directly.  That is a lot to unravel.My wife and I talked to a young Mormon wife and mother, and I said we can’t believe whatever Jesus we want Him to be, like Jesus is a rorschach test.  She disagreed.  Anyone can find in Jesus whatever they want to believe.  If someone wants him to be Chinese, he will be Chinese.  All embrace mysticism, and many do this level of it.I will have more observations for you in the future.

Why Do Jews Get Special Favor from True Christians?

Based on what’s committed against the United States and people’s talk about Islamophobia, one might think Moslems would receive more crimes against them for their religion.  They don’t.  The FBI reports 227 Moslem victims in its last report in 2019 and 1,032 Jewish victims.  Jews themselves also know that antisemitism grows rapidly.

For most of my life (born 1962), evangelical Christians were a very reliable ally of Jewish people and especially Israel.  Yet, by far I hear and read among evangelicals more anti-Jewish language and writing than I’ve ever heard.  I did not grow up around Jewish people and don’t ever remember even meeting a Jew until I was in college, but I still heard on a very regular basis, “The Jews are God’s chosen people.”  I thought that too.

As I read more broadly, I came to understand that American Jews voted for people and issues I opposed.  I still said, “The Jews are God’s chosen people.”  I continue to think that God blesses a nation that supports the Jewish people.  This comes from understanding of the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12:1-3.  This kind of support seems to match no other support for any other people.
When I arrived in California to start a church in the San Francisco Bay Area, I met many, many Jewish people, including in door-to-door evangelism.  I would approach a door and see the mezuza on the doorpost.  I always called it the shema.  I assumed it was a Jewish home.  After numbers of conversations, the mezuza became a kind of warning:  this conversation would not go well.  As friendly as I was, and however much I told the Jewish people I loved them, ninety-plus percent of the instances Jewish people treated me poorly at their doors.  I reacted to that by still thinking, “The Jews are God’s chosen people.”
Over time, I added some Jewish friends through involvement in orchestra and other providential events.  Every year a Jewish professor and I exchange correspondence after having met as bus mates on a trip we shared from Missouri to Oklahoma.  I wrote a script on how Baptists rescued Jews during World War 2 in Europe.  It was the story of Ivan Jaciuk, that I first read in The Righteous by the late Sir Martin Gilbert.  Israel planted a tree for Jaciuk along the Avenue of the Righteous in Jerusalem.  I talked by phone with the son of David Prital, the latter whom Jaciuk saved during the holocaust.
Why do the Jews get such special favor from true Christians?  The support of the Jews is an acknowledgement or recognition of God’s unfinished plans for a chosen people.  It is affirming God’s promises.  God is true in His nature.  Paul reflected Old Testament teaching when he wrote (Roman 11:26):  “all Israel shall be saved.”  He wrote what Isaiah did (45:17):  “Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation.”  We know Israel will be saved.  We know how and when Israel will be saved.
God will save Israel because He promised He would to Abraham.  He promised He would to Isaac, Jacob, and King David.  He continued to promise that He would through His prophets.
Much of the antisemitism I see comes from those who spiritualize to the church the Old Testament promises to Israel, like Roman Catholics and Lutherans have and do.  Today it’s spread to evangelicalism for many reasons.  The church to them is a spiritual Israel in, through, and by which God will fulfill His promises.  In so doing, God replaces Israel.  Israel then becomes an enemy to the true plan of God on earth.
The promises God made to Israel at least apply to Israel.  They also apply to everyone else based upon the Abrahamic covenant, because through Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth will be blessed.  It’s true that God will only save believing Israel, but Israel will believe.  The Old Testament provides that testimony in Isaiah 52-53 and Zechariah 14 among other places.  The Apostle Paul reiterates it in Romans 11 and John in his book of Revelation.
God loves Israel.  Like God told Hosea to love Gomer, God loves Israel (Hosea 3:1).  New Testament believers love Israel like God loves Israel.
God commanded to preach the gospel first to the Jews (Romans 1:16).  The Jews are a priority for the gospel.  They might not listen, but true evangelical believers go to Jews anyway (Matthew 13:13-15, Isaiah 6:9-10).
The message of Obadiah was that God will restore His people (vv. 16-18), and despite Israel’s sin, He will punish those who oppress Israel (vv. 1-15).  God judged Edom for mistreating Israel.
We know God will save Israel.  We should treat Jews like we know God will save tens of thousands of Jews (Revelation 7 and 14).  As evil as many Jews are and live, Israel is one of the greatest friends of the United States.
Some anti-Semites today might say, those Jews control Hollywood and spew out that filth.  You don’t have to watch it though.  You don’t need to support Hollywood to support the Jews.  In general, Hollywood presents Christianity in a negative way.  That’s influenced by a strong Jewish influence.  It’s sad, but they’re still God’s chosen people.
Jews spread their antichrist materials.  More than not they support abortion and immoral causes.  U. S. Jews are far less religious and far more atheist than average.  None of the negative activity of the Jews means God won’t save them.  We know He will.
God’s future plan still revolves around the Jews.  God doesn’t lie.  We know God’s plan does include the Jews.  As it relates to Jews, we should act like we know it.

The Gospel of Matthew: Matthean Authorship, Early Date, Infallible Truth

The Apostle Matthew wrote Matthew’s Gospel.  But do you know when Matthew was written, and what the historical evidence is for Matthew’s date?  Was Matthew the first, second, third, or last gospel written?  Did Matthew copy from another gospel?  These, and similar questions, are answered in my written study on the evidence for the New Testament here.  But if you want a video on Matthew which answers the questions above, click here to view “Historical Evidence for Matthew’s Gospel: Apostolic Authorship, Early Date, God’s Infallible Word on YouTube (from the last Word of Truth Conference at Bethel Baptist Church), or click here to view the video on Rumble, or view the embedded video below:

 

 

Sadly, in relation to the date question, not only theological modernists but too many theological conservatives and evangelicals ignore the actual ancient historical data to adopt dates significantly later than the data support, unnecessarily weakening the case for Christ.  This video does not do that, but argues for the date for Matthew, c. A. D. 40, actually supported by history.

TDR

Means to Personal Growth: How I Grow as a Person

We’re all going to die and personal growth will then end.  At what point does personal growth stop?  The older you get, the less years you have left, and maybe it doesn’t matter any more.  I don’t know how much time I have left.  It could be twenty years.  It could be twenty seconds.

If you are not growing then, you’re not maintaining.  You are diminishing.  In order not to diminish, you’ve got to grow, no matter what’s happening in your life.  You’ve still got a purpose for being here on earth.  You shouldn’t give up.
Since God exists and He functions as we read in His Word, we see His working in the life of a true believer in Jesus Christ.  God works toward the growth of a believer.  This is a promise of sanctification seen in Romans 8:28-29, that God conforms the one who love Him into the image of His Son.

Cooperation with God’s Working

God works, but He wants cooperation.  Cooperation must occur, what the Bible calls, working out your salvation (Philippians 2:12).  This isn’t salvation by works.  It is working out a salvation already there.  I call this cooperation, because it is God working in the life of the true believer.  He’s working, so that you’re working.  When this occurs, growth occurs.
Personal growth is cooperation with what God is doing in and through you.  Based on your cooperation, it can be better for you and then others.  If you’ve had some set backs and unfavorable circumstances, this does not signal to you, just give up, don’t keep cooperating.
Growth relates to purpose.  It is not growth if it is not fulfilling God’s purpose.  Someone might call it growth, but it would be something like cancer.  It’s growing, but we don’t call that growth.  If you got better at fleshly living, regular disobedience to God, that is not growth.  It is regression, even if it is fueled by fulfillment of goals.  A person adds skills for better building of the world system.  It will pass away.  It is vanity.  True growth and vanity are mutually exclusive.
For true personal growth, which relates to the purpose of God, what are the means?  Several means fuel my personal growth.  Among these are Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, reading, writing, and practice.

Bible Reading

I’m not going to do much to prove these means of personal growth, especially a few of them.  I keep reading my Bible.  I read through the Old Testament twice in 2021, and the New Testament 1 1/2 times.  I’m finishing up the NT from 2021, right now midway through Romans.  I’m doing something different in 2022.  The goal will be once OT and twice NT.

Prayer

My daughter and son-in-law gave me a prayer journal for Christmas. I’ll use that this year for prayer.  Our church gives out a prayer sheet every week, which I’ll dovetail with the prayer journal.  I’ve done prayer journals twice before.  To me, the journal will strengthen and emphasize biblical prayers, ones in God’s will.

Fellowship

For sure, biblical fellowship means faithful church meeting, not missing church meetings.  The personal growth also means engaging as the year progresses.  It’s a transition year, but while we meet with the church, we grow through preaching, teaching, and sharing.

Practice

Practice is the faithful work for the Lord.  Through the first three, I consider my wife, practicing the Bible with her in my role.  I want to grow in marriage.  Even during this transition, I want to evangelize and make disciples.  I have one evangelistic Bible study.  I have the goal of two other discipleships at least.  In addition, I continue evangelizing.  I strive to edify other believers in the church, encouraging them.  It’s happening.  I am helping a young man learn Greek, who wanted to learn it.
I do some physical labor to take up my share of that.  Maintenance does not just happen.  Most churches, almost everyone needs to take up their part, so that burden does not rest on a few people.  It is ongoing.
In one sense, practice is like exercise that strengthens.  Someone might read the Bible and pray, but that would be vain without practice.  Some compare that to the Dead Sea.  It’s dead because there is no outlet.

Writing

This is an important writing time to me.  Writing crystallizes thinking.  Whatever I am reading, the sharing I experience in the church, by writing it becomes a talking point.  It becomes useful.  I have the words to speak, because writing them forces me to have them.  Whenever we communicate in our practice, writing makes it better.  Writing practices the words that will come from the mouth in practice.
You know I write here twice a week.  I will continue.  Some don’t want me to do that for reasons I’ve expressed here before, but many encourage me to continue.  I don’t want to stop.
I want to finish all writing projects.  What are they?  It is five books at least.  First, I finished in 2021 the Disciplines for Discipleship.  It was actually a thorough edit of what I wrote in 1991.  The answer edition is printed and in California at Bethel Baptist Church.  The disciple edition is being printed right now and will be shipped to California in the next week or two.  The disciple edition is 162 pages.
I finished two other books in 2021.  They are not published, but they are in the hands of a friend, who volunteered to get them into the final step.  If he accomplishes that, it will be a great help.  One is on apostasy, about 100 pages and five chapters written by me only, the second overall and entitled Lying Vanities.  Two is a book on dress or appearance, about 300 pages and six chapters written by me only again, the third overall entitled Fashion Statement.
I have two projects I’m working on.  One, so a fourth in total, is a book on the gospel, about 400-500 pages written by five or six men including me, entitled The One True Gospel.  I am editor of these two books, just like Thou Shalt Keep Them and A Pure Church.  I believe it is close to done.  Almost everything is written.  It’s in the final parts of editing, formatting, indexing, and then printing.  I will let you know when we are at pre-publication, hopefully soon.
Two, so a fifth in total, is a book on sanctification, about 300-400 pages written by five or six men including me, entitled, A Salvation That Keeps On Saving.  I have about half of the chapters that are completed.  I want this done before the mid point of 2022.  That’s a lot of work.  All of these books will be published by Pillar and Ground Publishing, which is Bethel Baptist Church in El Sobrante, CA publishing.

Reading

What I wanted to write about the most is what I’m reading.  I would include with reading today, what I hear and watch in sermons, podcasts, and programs.  Even as I’m writing this, I’m listening to a podcast with a man lecturing, who I know, a Jewish man, who teaches at Loyola in Chicago, published author, that I’ve known for now about six or seven years.  He stayed at our house for a week after I met him on a bus ride, where I preached the gospel to him and others.  I wanted to hear what he would say, which was about interfaith dialogue and conflict.  I almost always listen to these while doing something else.
What am I reading right now?  I am using Basics of Biblical Greek by William Mounce for the Greek with the young man.  I didn’t use this book, but he did, so I got it to use with him before I move to second year.  I read several columns every week, usually on RealClearPolitics.  Almost all of these I quick-read.
I am reading six books right now.  I’m anywhere between 15% to 85% done with each of them.  One, I’m reading Sharing the Good News with Mormons, edited by Eric Johnson and Sean McDowell.  It has twenty-four short chapters to help evangelize LDS.  It is worth having for this purpose.  The three other books I read in 2021 for the same purpose were The Mormon PeopleI Love Mormons, and Leaving Mormonism.  All four of them gave me something different and helpful.  They all had strengths and weaknesses.  Maybe I’ll write about that sometime soon.
Two, I am reading The Church That John the Baptist Prepared by Joel Grassi.  It is an 850 page book (mammoth) on who Jesus called the greatest man who ever lived.  How many books are written on the greatest man who ever lived?  Not enough.  I don’t think anyone will do better than Grassi.  It is a tour de force, tremendous.
Three, I am reading Return of the God Hypothesis by Stephen Meyer.  This book gives the best and most updated scientific evidence for God.  It will give you numbers of talking points for atheists and agnostics, where you start with creation in evangelism like Paul in Acts 17.
Four, I am reading The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England by Marc Morris.  This is the most crucial event to the formation of the nation of England.  Since the United States started from England, this will help Americans understand themselves and their mother country.  This is bed time reading.
Five, I am reading Masculine Mandate:  God’s Calling to Men by Richard D. Phillips.  He writes in an edifying, substantive way on some of the foundational knowledge for men to fulfill God’s purpose for them.
Six, I am reading Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning by Nancy Pearcey.  She continues with her excellent worldview material, following Total Truth.
Do I read fiction?  I do, but I’m reading nothing fictional right now.  I read a few in 2021.  I very seldom share what fiction I’m reading.  I don’t think I need to encourage people to read fiction.  Does fiction aid personal growth?  It can and does.  It helps creativity, imagination, and communication.  I also do it for enjoyment.  I don’t mind enjoying myself as an activity, since God created a world to enjoy.
What I’ve written above is the means of personal growth for me.  God works through every one of these in and through me.

My Vaccine, Etc. Take

This is my take on the Covid-19 vaccine, etc.

In 2020-21 Brother Ross has written everything on vaccines and conspiracies on his day on Fridays.  I wish they weren’t controversial, but I knew they would be and I know they are. I allowed all of them.  I’m fine with the position he takes.  He’s never explained, but I think I know why he wants to write on this subject so much.  I’ve supported him. So, I haven’t written on the subject.  I don’t want to write on it.  But I’m going to write about it now.  I think I should.

I understand why people won’t take the vaccine.  There are several reasons for it in no necessary order.  As I write these, I’m not looking up anything in research.  These are off the top of my head.  Each of these, I believe, is a reason.

One, the vaccine isn’t like anything else produced.  It’s a new technology.  How can we be sure about this particular technology?

Two, the vaccine was rushed through without the usual testing.

Three, the government has been lying from the start.  When I say, government, I want you to understand that I don’t mean all of the government, mainly the unelected bureaucracy with cooperation of the media.  All things have not been the same as it relates to the government, but the swamp is large.

The government wasn’t honest about China.  It wasn’t honest about masks.  It wasn’t a pandemic.  The fear of a “pandemic” helped botch the 2020 election and made it easier to cheat.  With total respect for those who died and those who knew people who died, people died at a lesser rate by definition than a true pandemic.  Yet it was called a pandemic.  The media has pushed the lies of the government.  The government still lies on a daily basis.

The government used the pandemic to shut down and threaten churches.  It’s still doing it in countries less free and without a Constitution like ours.  The vaccine has been a political hard ball.  It’s tossed all over the place to cause political damage in a dishonest way.  When people were dying in the last administration, fast balls thrown at the head every minute at the President.  Now when it’s spreading like wildfire and this President makes multiple errors, the media is silent.  He wears the mask like a chin strap in public, coughs all over people, coughs into his hand, breaks every one of his own rules.

By the way, if you can’t understand why people don’t trust their government and in a big way, then please read Victor David Hansen’s recent column at American Greatness, entitled, “The Truths We Dared Not Speak in 2021.”  This government is a clown car, trying to force people to put something in their body that they don’t want, except it’s not a fun clown car but one that is weaving all over the road with two wheels hanging over a cliff.  Think about a clown and then think of President Biden and then Jen Psaki. It’s not a difficult reach.  Put her hair on his head.  It’s difficult to parody, (1) because it is its own parody without changing anything, and (2) it’s a nervous laugh because they are dangerous.

Four, the vaccine has the worst side effects I’ve ever seen.  I admit that I haven’t taken many prescription drugs in my lifetime, but these are some weird reactions.

Five, President Biden opposed the vaccine until he became president and now he wants everyone vaccinated.  He is willing to mandate it for anyone that he can.

Six, people are getting fired for not getting the vaccine.  People are having their positions threatened.  Some see themselves as marked people because they aren’t cooperating.

Seven, the vaccine sets a pattern of government control that reminds people of passages in Revelation where the Antichrist takes over.  It isn’t the Antichrist and it isn’t the mark of the beast, but the Antichrist won’t allow those to buy or sell without the mark, and the present government has pushed a vaccine passport.  When I was in San Francisco, held over there trying to get to a funeral, a coffee shop asked to see my vaccination card or I couldn’t get a coffee there.

This government locked everything down and would monetary fine those who broke their arbitrary, non-representative rules, and then the main executives of the rules broke them themselves with total hypocrisy.  They also allowed leftist protestors to break them without interdiction or discouragement.  Now they let people illegally into the country, who are breaking their Covid rules.  They don’t really care about stopping the disease, not with the conviction of someone who really believed it was serious.

Eight, I’ve thought that a health crisis would be the basis for breaking down the boundaries and distinctions between governments.  It was Rahm Emmanuel, Chief of Staff for President Obama, who said, “Don’t let a crisis go to waste.”  Some seem to revel in the crisis.  It creates great situations to pass a biggest spending bill for all of history.

Nine, the government says the vaccination works and then requires masks and social distancing as if the vaccination doesn’t work.

Ten, Israel does a study saying natural immunity is better than a vaccination and our government gives no equal favor to natural immunity.  It is essentially silent on natural immunity.  This itself is a sort of lie.

Eleven, politicians by nature make money from Pharmaceutical lobbyists, which seem to be involved.  The more vaccinations, the more money to corrupt lobbyists.  The cost is spread over everyone who pays taxes.  What a boon!  The give-away system itself is corrupt.  This is a form of corporatism.

Twelve, cheap drugs that could help Covid patients aren’t allowed those drugs.  They are safe, legal, and inexpensive, so why aren’t they allowed?  Why are they being attacked in the media?  Many testify to being helped by them and yet in many cases, the medical community doesn’t have them when they are needed.  These are the same people saying to get a vaccine.

Thirteen, the wrong people are putting unreasonable pressure on people to take the vaccine.

Fourteen, other ideas besides the vaccine are not easily accessible.  When someone has a criticism, it’s being censored in social media and on the mainstream media.  Why is that?

Fifteen, more people look to the government for help, adding just a little bit or even a lot more dependency on big government.

Sixteen, just one more booster, no one more, just a second, you’ll just need one more.

Seventeen, this works at 95%, sorry to tell you now it’s at just 25% efficacy.  They really didn’t know how long the efficacy would last.  It looks like they’re trying the vaccine out on us.

Eighteen, people aren’t sure if aborted baby materials weren’t used in experimentation to create the vaccine.

I’m going to stop at eighteen.  I could write thirty or more.  What I wanted you to know was that I understand your concerns.  If you didn’t get the vaccine, you’ve got reasons.  I think especially cumulatively, people see what I’m writing.  They know it.  Even if they trust the vaccine, they don’t want to support this.

With this list of eighteen, if you want to get the vaccine, you should be at liberty to get it.  I don’t agree with writing that calls it genocide and a death shot.  Good people support getting the vaccine.  I got the vaccine and a booster.  My parents got the vaccine and the booster.  I didn’t push the vaccine at all, but if someone asked me, I told them why I got it.  No pressure.

I had my reasons for getting the vaccination, that I believe are legitimate reasons for getting it.  I’m not ashamed for getting it.  It wasn’t so that I could travel, like someone lied.  I didn’t need it to travel.  I don’t think people should be shamed for getting the vaccination.  It’s a liberty issue.  Because it is a liberty issue, I believe Brother Thomas can write about it with liberty.  It’s obviously not a liberty issue for some.  You should think about the principles in his conspiracy series.  He cares about scripture more than most people I know.

I thought the reward outweighed the risk.  I thought the vaccination was a risk.  Not getting the vaccination, I believed, was a greater risk.  To me, getting it was a greater reward.  It should not be causing division in churches.  For sure, it should not be a church discipline issue.   I know several unaffiliated Baptist churches where a majority of the people received the vaccination.

When I list of the worst things happening in 2021, I think those on the list should be taken into consideration.  With my eighteen reasons people could legitimately use for not getting vaccinated, that doesn’t mean I think the vaccination issue gets into the top five or even the top ten.  That doesn’t mean the vaccination issue and others like it aren’t important at all.  I’ve never written that.  I did not make that point at all.  However, if you don’t think my top five were important or even true, be my guest for making the case that there are bigger issues than the five I wrote.  Feel free to argue the vaccination into the top five.  Do not rehash what has already been written under other posts.

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You can comment, but I’ll shut it down if I think it’s uncivil.  On this post, I have the right to delete any comment without giving you a reason.

Conspiracy Theory: Biblical Methods of Evaluation, part 7 of 7

Summary

In summary, before encouraging anyone to adopt a conspiracy theory, please consider:

Have I followed Biblical principles for evaluating data? 

These principles include:

Have the best arguments both for and against the conspiracy been carefully examined?

Is the conspiracy logical?

Are there conflicts of interest in those promoting the conspiracy?

Does the conspiracy theory produce extraordinary evidence for its extraordinary claims?

Does the conspiracy require me to think more highly of myself than I ought to think?

Is looking into this conspiracy redeeming the time?

Are Biblical patterns of authority followed by those spreading the conspiracy?

If the conspiracy passes these evaluative tests, then there may be something to it.  If it fails these tests, it should be ignored.  If the person promoting the conspiracy to you has not taken the time to follow these Biblical tests, kindly ask him or her to follow Scripture before promoting conspiracies to you, and tell him that after Scripture is followed we may have time to talk, but we won’t before then.  Then instead of watching the video on the conspiracy, behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, by the illumination of the Spirit, in the infallible Word (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This entire series can be viewed online at “Conspiracy Theory: Biblical Methods of Evaluation” by clicking here.

TDR

Ranking the Worst Things Happening In a Given Year

Someone said that they don’t like 2022 because it’s 2020 two times.  Get it.  Twenty-twenty two.  Twenty-twenty two-times.  They were being funny.

I remember when we got the call that said we had to cancel school and in a real hurry in March 2020.  We went to zoom classes.  Putting an entire school on zoom in a week was huge.

I know people and churches that had really bad things happen for them in 2021.  I’m not going to name them, but you know or know of people who died in 2021, maybe a loved one.  We wish they were here still.  They’re not.  I know several from just this year, two I was very close to.  I know emergency room nurses who’ve had a very difficult time.

This is the end of 2021 and men and groups rank events, books, politics, music, movies, and people.  Did last year’s predictions come true?  What will happen in 2022?  People rank the best.  They rank the worst.  Now that we have the internet, it’s a good way for someone to get traffic, especially if they post a separate page for every number in their list.

I want us to consider how we make a list of the worst things that happen in a given year.  How does a Christian determine that?  What is actually really bad?  What hurts the most?  Who or what causes the most damage?  The media evaluates events for us.   They look at an event as the end of the world, the next year it happens again, and they don’t mention it, because they don’t want to shame the one who did it.

When we read the Bible, God doesn’t mention national freedom as an important issue.  It’s important in the United States Constitution, but not scripture.  If something causes you to violate God’s Word, God addresses it.  Daniel had a mandated diet in Babylon.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had mandated worship of an idol.  Then Daniel had mandated that he could not pray.  Daniel ate.  The three Hebrews did not bow.  Daniel prayed.  The mandates were less the concern as much as what saints did with each mandate.

Jewish leaders mandated Peter and John, don’t preach.  They answered, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.  We obey God rather than men.  The worst thing to happen wasn’t mandating not preaching.  It was preachers not standing when told not to preach.  That didn’t happen in that case.

Not obeying what God said, that’s one of the worst things happening in a given year.  Is there anything worse?  I think there is.  Changing what God said and eliminating it as something He even said; that’s worse.  Perverting biblical doctrine and practice so that people are hearing sometimes the opposite of what God said, that’s worse than not doing what God said.  They are similar, but if the doctrine and practice of God’s Word is still safeguarded for future belief and practice, that’s more fundamental in importance.

Twitter feeds and social media said in 2021 the worst thing was either the vaccination or those not getting the vaccination, and then masked or unmasked.  The country was split right down the middle on this issue.  Perhaps worse than that was that the vaccination or the mask was such a big issue.  While people are mocking government policy on Covid-19, something far worse could be happening.  Or is that the worst?  Maybe you could argue for that.

When we decide the worst things happening, we could compare events.  January 6 at the U.S. capital or the murders in Chicago?  January 6 at the U.S. capital or the protests in the previous summer?  Abortions or children who live and hear a false gospel, damning their souls forever?

Here’s my attempt at a list of the worst things that happened in 2021.

5.  A significant percentage of young people left biblical churches.

Studies show a significant increase in people in their twenties leaving church.  This is close to seventy percentile.  I don’t like the fads and philosophies I see embraced by young people, but giving up is the worst.  That influences all the other decisions they make.

I watched a chapel service for Bob Jones University and the speaker said to the congregated group of young people that the crowd would split right down the middle between liberals and conservatives.

4.  Self-centered, materialistic, and superficial living increased in magnitude among all church members.

For years church leaders try to keep their people with social activities and fun.   Church growth means adding more people, not true conversion and disciples.  In the minds of the church members, this is fellowship.  More than ever, professing Christians cannot endure sound doctrine.  Lives are filled up with temporal things.  Biblical doctrines conform to a casual, comfortable lifestyle.  Normal biblical doctrine, practice, and standards are now too offensive.

The worship of churches is very often entertainment, and the people can’t tell the difference.  The people are more worldly than ever and you can’t distinguish between the church and the world.  What the world was not long ago, the churches are today.

3.  The number of churches preaching a confused, watered down, or false gospel increases.

Churches either remove repentance from their doctrinal statements and plans of salvation or they redefine it so that it isn’t repentance anymore.  This affects also what these churches teach on sanctification, because believers aren’t expected to live according to the Bible.  More than ever when you ask a professing Christian what the gospel is, he or she cannot tell you.

If someone does something akin to “pray this prayer with me” and gets a salvation statistic, that does not result in someone saved.  It results in someone more fooled than he or she even was before.

2.  The number of churches active in preaching the gospel reaches an all time low.

If a tree falls and no one hears it, did it make a noise?  If a church has the gospel, and no one preaches it, does it have the gospel?

People are so distracted with their phones, social media, politics, and what’s happening through the media, that less gospel preaching occurs.  More than ever, people are so filled with doubt and then lacking in confidence, that they don’t have the assurance to be bold.  The less gospel preaching, the less salvation and more are lost.  Increase in eternal death is worse than increase in physical death.  Average life expectancy dropped in 2020 more than any time since World War 2.  Less gospel preaching results in less eternal life expectancy.

1.  True worship of God decreased.

True worship gives God what He wants.  What people want clashes with what God wants.  God created the world for His pleasure.  True individual worship decreased.  True corporate worship decreased.  Just like the worship of God decreased in apostatizing Israel, it is across the world.  Rather than giving God what He wants to hear, God received what people wanted more than ever in 2021.

The natural consequence of not preaching the gospel or preaching a false and watered down one is that true worship also decreases.  It results in greater apostasy, turning from the true God, and God receives less worship.

Honorable Mention.  Honorable mention for 2021?  Abortions have dropped since their high in the 1980s, 2017 the lowest since Roe v. Wade was passed.  Still, however, the murder of thousands of innocent babies is the worst physical event every year.  It just can’t compete with spiritual and eternal events, as worse than them.

Also honorable mention, increased role confusion.  Role confusion increased significantly in the world, more effeminate men and more masculine women.  This affected the abortion rate.  The lack of reproduction that comes from man and woman relationships results in less abortion.  There are less babies to abort.  God designed the family to pass along the truth to the next generation.  When families break up, this results in less truth, less worship, less preservation of what God wants in the world.  Role confusion breaks up the family as much as any one cause.

Those are the worst of 2021.  Natural disasters, pandemics, and political issues can’t compare with the spiritual and eternal ones.

What Does God Say Is Cured By the New Covenant? The Blame Game

People have their favorite verses in the Bible, beloved ones they commit to memory.  They know them well.  Every verse, every word of the Bible is important, but there are key passages in it.  If you think of Jeremiah, certain texts stand out.  One of those is Jeremiah 31:31-34, the classic location for the new covenant.

I read Jeremiah again recently in my Bible reading.  Something else stood out.  If you google, “new covenant,” the first paragraph of the first link, which is the Wikipedia article, reads:

The New Covenant (Hebrew ברית חדשה‎ berit hadashah; Greek διαθήκη καινή diatheke kaine) is a biblical interpretation originally derived from a phrase in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34), in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament in Christian Bible).

To provide a definition of the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:31-34 appears as the only reference in the first sentence.  Here are those verses:

31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Many years ago now, when I was in graduate school, I traveled and stayed with a family, whose wife and mother was Jewish.  In giving her testimony of salvation, she said she received Christ from reading Jeremiah 31:31-34.  It impacted her to that degree.
A faithful reader can explain the whole Bible accurately using the various biblical covenants, including this new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34.  The covenants are a system of interpretation of scripture, a grid through which to see it all.
A diligent Bible student can divide scripture into two well-known covenants, the old and the new, more well known as the Old and New Testaments.  I refer to the new covenant as a corollary to the old covenant.  God promises blessing to those obedient to His law, which cannot occur without a transformation of an individual heart.  Then God fulfills the blessing promised in the old covenant through His new covenant.
It’s easy to see Jeremiah 31:31-34 as its own isolated segment and stop considering the verses right before and after.  The new covenant cures something.  It cures a lot, when one considers that it represents salvation from all our sins.  However, what does Jeremiah mention in the verses immediately preceding the new covenant?  Let’s look at those in verses 28-30 of Jeremiah 31.

28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD. 29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

Verse 28 makes mention of the curse on Israel under the old covenant. God plucked up, broke down, threw down, destroyed, and afflicted.  Like God did the cursing, in the future God will build and plant instead.
What in part has occurred that would lead to this building and planting, versus the old plucking, breaking, throwing down, destruction, and affliction?  Individuals would stop making excuses for themselves.  They would stop playing the blame game.  This is directly related to their cursing in contrast to blessing.
As soon as man fell in the Garden, he started blaming someone else (Genesis 3).  This is not the path of restoration to and with God.  Since it is what occurs so early in the Bible, one could say it is typical of lost mankind.
In future days God will watch over His people to build and plant.  They are days when a people will no more say, “The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”  It’s not a day of some kind of national punishment, where people pay for what someone else has done.
The whole nation of Israel went into captivity, including the godly people.  Jeremiah himself suffered despite his godliness, something that his amaneuensis Baruch complained about in Jeremiah 45.  Why should Jeremiah and he suffer for what others did wrong?  They did not cause this predicament.
Representative of the behavior the new covenant would cure is an adult child blaming his parents for how he now lives.  This is a common excuse backed by modern psychiatry, essentially Freudians and behavioral psychiatrists who see man as an animal.  Future blessing will come to those God cures of the blame game.
Of all the practices God could mention before such a pivotal passage for all history, God puts his finger on this following point.  ‘My parents ate sour grapes, and that’s why my teeth are set on edge.’  It’s a figure of speech, and it represents an important reason why people do not get back on the path of blessing, the way of righteousness.  People will never receive the new heart, a changed one, that results in the blessing of God, when they blame other people for how they live.
In that future day from the perspective Jeremiah, everyone will die for his own iniquity.  When Israel fought Ai, many Israelites died because of the sin of Achan.  When a church today goes to the Lord’s Table, the unrepentant sin of a church member kills only him, not the whole church.  Everyone dies for his own iniquity.
Personal responsibility is the message of Ezekiel 18, the soul that sinneth, it shall die.  No excuse will work when someone stands before God.  The one who eats the sour grapes, his own teeth are set on edge.  God punishes him for his own sin, not his parents.  He takes responsibility for his own sin, not his parents.  It is injustice for someone to pay for what someone else did wrong.
Irresponsible, sinful behavior, essentially someone walking after his own lust, scoffing authority, like one sees in 2 Peter, this does not characterize someone under the new covenant, someone who has received a new heart.  We’re in the new covenant era.
If you do you, a common postmodern refrain, you’ll pay for it alone.  You do what you do because of you.  You also can escape you.  God offers the power to be what He wants you to be.  Because God gives a new heart through His saving grace, you can do Him instead of you.  You’re not doing you any more.  Now you’re doing Him.  The New Covenant will do that.

AUTHORS OF THE BLOG

  • Kent Brandenburg
  • Thomas Ross

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