Foolishness Running Amok

Here we go again. I sometimes think we as a culture have lost our collective mind. First, I hear that two first graders have been suspended for playing cops and robbers and shooting at each other with their fingers. Remember – "If fingers are outlawed, only outlaws will have fingers."

Then I hear that a kindergarten girl has been suspended for making terrorist threats by telling her friend she was going to shoot her with a toy gun that shoots only soap bubbles. After a bit of public outcry, her suspension was reduced from ten days to two days. Two minutes would have been too much.

These kinds of things are indicative of the lack of wisdom, common sense, and biblical discernment in our culture today. When we consider the things that are given "hearty approval" (Romans 1:32, NASB) by politicians and the media, while we vilify the innocent actions of little children, we can only conclude that we as a nation have truly forgotten a number of important biblical injunctions, including the following two:

"Go from the presence of a foolish man when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge" (Proverbs 14:7, NKJV).

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20, NKJV).

I have to wonder – What would have happened if these students had been playing abortion doctor, dishonest politician, or lying member of the media instead? I suspect they would have been rewarded in some way for lifting up the "honorable" segments of our society. Our country is certainly in a mess today. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only answer to the many problems we face.

Gun Control or Sin Control

Every time there is a vile crime committed with a gun, we find ourselves bombarded by a plethora of proposals allegedly designed to prevent gun violence. Some of these proposals are utterly absurd, such as declaring certain places to be "gun-free zones," which is tantamount to declaring those areas to be "shooting galleries" by announcing that it is likely to be filled with unarmed people. Most mass shootings tend to occur in "gun-free zones." Who wants to have someone shoot back at them? NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.” He is right. Anything else violates common sense.

 

Anti-gun people, in spite of their absurd proposals, are thought by some to be heroes, while gun owners are vilified in the media and by many politicians. Taking guns out of the hands of potential victims in order to stop the criminals makes as much sense as a teacher punishing the whole class except for the one student who is causing problems.

 

Other proposals involve outlawing "assault weapons" (a made-up term that does not apply to any legally-owned gun) and "high capacity clips," which is another indicator that the people who talk the most about guns are those who know the least about them. A "clip" and a "magazine" are not the same thing. But hey, who cares about accuracy and truth if it will hurt the agenda? This stuff is reminiscent of the old argument from several years ago that we needed to outlaw the "Saturday night special," another made-up term that describes no firearm that ever existed.

 

New proposals and recycled ones continue to emerge, quite often from those in Washington who demonstrate hypocrisy by having armed bodyguards and, in some cases, by carrying firearms themselves. They seem to have the attitude that they and their children deserve to be protected, but everyone else and their children can just be targets.

 

Of course, there is this little thing called the Constitution that gets in their way, and most of their proposals violate the Second Amendment by infringing on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. This is a tough one for them to get around, especially since the Supreme Court has declared the obvious – that the right to keep and bear arms, just like all of the Bill of Rights, is an individual right of U.S. citizens. Most of the "gun control" proposals are unconstitutional, silly, ridiculous, and absurd. Nevertheless, they are generally presented as "common sense" measures to prevent gun violence. In truth, most of them have no effect and some even have a reverse effect.

 

Just to illustrate absurdity by being absurd, I might as well add my own idiotic proposal, because it makes as much sense as most of what is coming out of our politicians. Following is my proposal:

 

We know that a large percentage of gun crimes are committed with stolen guns. All we have to do is make a new law (Isn't that always the answer? Make a new law.) that says all criminals must submit to a background check and purchase a "gun stealing license" before they are allowed to steal a gun and then wait fifteen days before stealing it. After they steal it, they must register it. That way, after they commit their gun crime, they will be easier to catch. This will work because we know that criminals always obey the laws. If they see a sign that says "gun-free zone," they simply slink away and find something else to do, so obviously if they know it is illegal to steal a gun without a background check and without a license, they simply will not do it.

 

Does that sound absurd? Obviously it does, so I fully expect some elected official to pick up on it and propose it, because it is very much like all of the other foolish gun-control laws and proposals.

 

It really is time to start dealing with the problem instead of blaming other people or inanimate objects for the evil things committed by criminals. The problem is what the Bible calls "the exceeding sinfulness of sin" (Romans 7:13).  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Those who commit crimes are responsible for what they do. We are all responsible for our actions. This concept seems to have been lost in our culture.

 

Sin is a real issue in this world today. Human beings need to be saved from their sin by the Lord Jesus Christ. The necessity of salvation has been illustrated since the Old Testament Law was given to Moses. The Bible clearly points out that the law does not make anyone righteous. It only points out how short we fall of reaching God's perfect standard of righteousness. The same is true today. Congress can make all the laws it wants, and the President can hand down all the executive orders he wants, but none of these things will stop violence, because none of them can possibly change the nature of man. Only salvation by grace through faith can give man a new nature, forgive his sin, and declare him to be righteous.

 

The message we need today is not more patriotism, more Americanism, more gun control, less gun control, more welfare, higher taxes, lower taxes, etc. The only message that can truly change lives is the message of the Gospel:  "... I declare to you the gospel...by which also you are saved...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3-4, NKJV).

Jesus Christ is the Answer to Evil

By My Anonymous Friend

Two days ago a most horrific crime was committed in an elementary school in a small town in Connecticut. 26 people were murdered by a mad man. 20 of these were youngsters aged 6 and 7. Many are analyzing, speculating, pontificating, and lecturing us as to what could have caused a young man to kill his own mother and all these innocent children. It is not my intent to try to explain this tragedy. All I can say is that evil is real and very much present in our world.

 

I would like to add a further note which is that part of the biblical Christmas story also involves evil. In fact it also involves the murder of innocent children. Amid the lights, dinners and gift exchanges, let us not forget that a power mad politician viewed the birth of Jesus as a potential political threat. To make sure no newborn baby would ever challenge him for power, Herod ordered all babies aged two and under in Bethlehem and surrounding areas, to be killed. I wonder how many parents grieved then just like the parents in Connecticut do today? Hundreds maybe? Who knows? Both are horrible displays of human evil and depravity.

 

Christmas is a season of joy, celebration, and happiness. After all we wish one another a "Merry" Christmas! I am not suggesting we do anything less. I simply share this sobering reminder that it is precisely because of evil and depravity that the Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The birth of Jesus meant that the Lamb of God which would serve as the atoning sacrifice for the very depravity we saw on display two days ago and which, to be very sure, resides in each of us as well, entered the human scene.

 

So the joy of this season goes much beyond dinners and concerts and gifts. The fundamental joy consists in the fact that it marks the introduction or public display of God's remedy for depravity. So as we all grieve and hurt for the surviving loved ones in Connecticut, there can also be room in our hearts for joy and celebration. As we pray God's comfort and peace to those in the deepest of sorrows, let us also pray to give thanks for the gift of Jesus Christ! Depravity and evil are only too real! The remedy for sin and evil as well as the provision for redemption are equally real!

 

The Futility of Racism

Racism has become the constant mantra of some today, especially in the political arena. It seems that the political parties are always looking for an angle to get the vote of certain "racial groups" by putting "race" first. So often, "race" seems to be the primary consideration, depending on whose votes are desired. There seems to be never-ceasing cries of "racism" when someone speaks against the policies of a candidate or office-holder who happens to be from one group or another. 

 

This phenomenon certainly has been shoved in our faces by both some in the media and some politicians concerning President Obama. If you disagree with him, you are a racist. If you oppose his policies, you are a racist. If you didn't vote for him, you are a racist. I would certainly agree that it would be racist to vote against any candidate because of the color of his or her skin. What we never hear is that if someone chooses to vote for a candidate because of the color of his or her skin, that is likewise a racist behavior.

 

When it comes to President Obama, there is no doubt that there are those who absolutely refused to vote for him because of his skin color. It is likewise true that there are many who voted for him primarily because of his skin color. Neither of these positions indicate a level of maturity and common sense that is really a necessity for those who would accept the responsibility of voting. What a candidate stands for is infinitely more important than the color of that candidate's skin.  

 

It is also interesting to note that the Republicans were accused of racism when Herman Cain was leading in the primary polls. The convoluted logic involved was that the Republicans were just trying to prove they weren't racist because they could now say that they "had their black guy, too," so clearly they were insincere and hypocritical, which made them racist. And who can forget the racial stereotypes that were thrown at Condoleezza Rice when she was Secretary of State? At some point, the whole racist issue with all of the "race-baiting" and accusations becomes absurd. Americans should be better than that, but whatever the country as a whole does, Bible-believing Christians must be better than that.

 

The lunacy of racism is underscored when we look at it from the perspective of creation. Evolution is, without a doubt, a racist teaching. Some people are more evolved than others, which makes some "races" less human than others. Just ask Adolf Hitler. He considered Jews to be closer to ape than human, and certain others, such as any people with dark skin, were just a bit above the Jews in the hierarchy of evolution toward the white, blonde-haired blue-eyed "Aryan race." Charles Darwin was quite obviously racist, and the title of his most famous book reveals that fact. We normally hear the title of the book as The Origin of Species. The full title of the book, which is On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, is rarely mentioned. 

 

On the subject of racism, Ken Ham of "Answers in Genesis" makes some profound and insightful observations. In an article entitled "Are There Really Different Races?" he says the following: 

·    "Darwinian evolution was (and still is) inherently a racist philosophy, teaching that different groups or “races” of people evolved at different times and rates, so some groups are more like their apelike ancestors than others."

·    "Racist attitudes fueled by evolutionary thinking were largely responsible for an African pygmy being displayed, along with an orangutan, in a cage in the Bronx zoo."

·    "Scientists today admit that, biologically, there really is only one race of humans."

·    "ABC News stated, 'More and more scientists find that the differences that set us apart are cultural, not racial. Some even say that the word race should be abandoned because it’s meaningless.' The article went on to say that 'we accept the idea of race because it’s a convenient way of putting people into broad categories, frequently to suppress them - the most hideous example was provided by Hitler’s Germany. And racial prejudice remains common throughout the world.'"

·    "Personally, because of the influences of Darwinian evolution and the resulting prejudices, I believe everyone (and especially Christians) should abandon the term 'race(s).' We could refer instead to the different 'people groups' around the world."

·    "The Bible does not even use the word race in reference to people, but it does describe all human beings as being of 'one blood' (Acts 17:26). This of course emphasizes that we are all related, as all humans are descendants of the first man, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), who was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27)."  

·    "In other words, the so-called 'racial' differences are absolutely trivial - overall, there is more variation within any group than there is between one group and another. If a white person is looking for a tissue match for an organ transplant, for instance, the best match may come from a black person, and vice versa. ABC News claims, 'What the facts show is that there are differences among us, but they stem from culture, not race.'" 

·    "If the Bible teaches and science confirms that all are of the same human race and all are related as descendants of Adam, then why are there such seemingly great differences between us (for example, in skin color)? The answer, again, comes with a biblically informed understanding of science."

·    "When Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven' (Matthew 19:14). He did not distinguish between skin colors. In fact, scientists have discovered that there is one major pigment, called melanin, that produces our skin color. There are two main forms of melanin: eumelanin (brown to black) and pheomelanin (red to yellow). These combine to give us the particular shade of skin that we have."

·    "Geneticists have found that four to six genes, each with multiple alleles (or variations), control the amount and type of melanin produced. Because of this, a wide variety of skin shades exist. In fact, it is quite easy for one couple to produce a wide range of skin shades in just one generation..." (Note: I have several times heard Ken Ham say, "We are all the same color. Some of us just have more of it than others.") 

I agree with Ken Ham that we need to drop the whole idea of "races." There are "ethnic groups" or "people groups." There are different cultures, and these are legitimate and a part of God's plan, but there is only one race - the human race. Continuing to talk about "race" is futile in that it does nothing to promote evangelism or Christian unity, but it does a great deal to further Satan's purposes of dividing people and promoting hatred between cultures.

 

The article from which I took these quotes may be read in its entirety here. There are many articles on the "Answers in Genesis" website that touch on this subject and related subjects. These articles may be found here.

The Unknown God - Acts 17:16-34

...Part of the reason the Apostle Paul was grieved was that he had come to a city that had been thoroughly influenced by all of these false philosophies. He had seen how these philosophies and the false view of God they had begun with was now affecting everything in their lives ... their view of life and the value of human life ... their view of economics ... robbing from the rich to give to the poor is only sensible in that kind of situation.

 

Frankly, the Apostle Paul in Athens was provoked in his spirit in the same way that you as a Christian should be provoked in your spirit when you look at what's happening in the United States ... There is an abandonment of God and a biblical-centered worldview and philosophy ... When God speaks through His Word, He speaks to EVERY part of your life. There is a biblical view or politics. There is a biblical view of economics. We would call that the free market or ... the stewardship of private property ... There's a view of the family - a recognition of the high value of the family ... There's certainly a view of law ... that God is our lawgiver ... The majority of people around us today are now influenced by atheism, pantheism, or what we would call humanism or secularism. You say, "Well someone is a secularist." Here's another term for it - a liberal. The term "liberal" is describing someone who is a secularist, and a secularist in the broad, general picture is someone who is taking a worldview that is based upon an atheistic view that there is no God, and if there is no God, it affects everything about your life ...

 

... It is impossible to rid yourself of all that influence ... You need to understand it, you need to see it, and you need to confront it ... and we say ..."Here's where we're going, here's where the culture around us is going, and  ... we're going to reject all of their false views for what is a biblical view ... verse 21 - "It's always about something new, novel, different ... That is not new. That's been the way it's always been. We're always after something novel, something new, something different ... That is the way that it is in the American church ... I have to be honest with you ... I have no problem with that which is new. I like new gadgets ... but I also love the foundation of biblical principles by which I recognize there's not just something new and untried and untested. There's something that is proven, something that is grounded - a solid rock upon which I can build my life. So I'm not looking for something new, fresh. I'm not looking for all the newest ideas. I'm looking for that which is tested, tried, proven. I'm looking for something to stand upon.

 

Paul ... sees their idolatry, their philosophy, their novelty ... He confronts what he sees with Scripture ... "The Unknown God" ... becomes his launching point ... "God who made the world and everything in it." That is a great place for all Christian proclamation of God to begin. He is the Creator ... Biblically, you cannot think like a Christian ... you cannot believe as a Christian that the Bible is true and that somehow evolution is a possibility. You have to recognize that the Bible teaches through and through that God is our Creator ... What Paul says is a strong statement that there is a God and He is the Creator of everything that we see around us ...

 

... Some of you would say, "... Are you telling me that if I am going to believe the Bible that I need to be a creationist?" That's EXACTLY what I'm telling you ... Every major portion of the Bible claims that God is the Creator ... "If I believe the Bible, do I have to believe that God is the Creator?" Yeah. That's exactly what I've been saying...

 

... As Christians, we have every reason to believe that there is a God and that He is the Creator ... Talking about who this God is, we'll not only see Him as the Creator, but we'll see Him as the Ruler, we'll see Him as the Sustainer, we'll see Him as the Ordainer - the one who makes all history happen. And we're going to see that God has spoken to us and that God has commanded us to repent and to turn to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ ...

 

... As Christians today we must not ever be intimidated by the philosophers and idolaters and all those people who are looking for newfangled things. We must not be intimidated by them. We must firmly stand and proclaim that God is the Creator ...

 

To hear this entire sermon by Pastor Jeff Anderson, click here.

REAL Buffalo Noise

If you want to hear some REAL Buffalo Noise, click here.

Being a Berean (Acts 17:1-15)

Pastor Jeff Anderson consistently teaches the superiority of the Scriptures over all human ideas, human opinions, and human efforts. Following are excerpts from one of his sermons, "Being a Berean," from Acts 17:1-15. The entire sermon can be heard here.

 

...The apostle says in 1 Corinthians 2, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified ... And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (NKJV)

 

... Our greatest reasoning and our greatest logic when it comes to biblical persuasion is to reason from the Scriptures ... because "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

 

... The modern apologetic, the defense of the faith that you find in so many Christian colleges, so many books that you read, is somehow an attitude that says, "Let's take the Bible and hide it behind our back and now we're going to convince people ... and somehow we'll sneak in a little bit of Bible, maybe at the end." That is not the biblical way. The biblical way is to make sure the Scriptures are there and the Scriptures are the first thing. "Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.'" (Acts 17:2-3, NKJV)

 

...The Logos is not just our persuasive words. It's the reasoning that comes from the Scriptures, and when you go to all of the Scriptures it becomes obvious ... Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the one we need to trust in ... Why? Because they received this, not as the words of human wisdom, not just because we are compelling, not just because we are persuasive, but because the Word of God has brought them to faith, and it's the Word of God that we must use ... There's no place for us to manipulate people just by sheer emotion ...

 

... turn on the television and watch all the commercials ... they're all about emotion. They're trying to stir people to feel a certain way rather than to think a certain way in order to buy whatever it might be that they have.

 

As Christians we must not fall into that ... If we fall into that, we can tell nice stirring stories, we can move people to tears, we can play music, and we can get them to walk an aisle and make a certain profession of their faith in Christ, but ... people who go out and with emotion they're trying to convince people and they only use stirring things and manipulate people and they get a certain response but the response doesn't last ...

 

In America we've done a great job in the last hundred years of getting people to walk aisles, make professions, raise their hands. We've done a really good job of manipulating people into making a profession of their faith in Christ, but we see very little fruit of that, and the reason ... is because we have fallen to the pathetic ... rationale of trying to convince people by only stirring and appealing to their emotions ...

 

... We must be sure we are not doing that. We must be sure we are depending on the Spirit of God to compel people and drive them. Why? Because the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; they are spiritually discerned. And the thing we can do is pray that the Spirit of God would grant people repentance to acknowledge the truth. And we can plant the seeds of the Scripture and give them reason from the Scripture. Give them the Word, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. These are the things that we must give ourselves to. We must not ever give ourselves to whatever it is that produces results and seems to help us pad our figures and count our results and somehow feel good that, "Hey, we accomplished something today."

 

... If I were to just get up and tell you emotional stories, and we'd play a little bit of music that could kind of manipulate you, then we could have you come down forward, and I could write to all my friends and say, "Hey, we had twenty people come forward today. Look at me. Success! Successful day! God was glorified! Twenty people came forward!" Who knows what happened with those twenty people who came forward? If instead we're simply reasoning from the Scriptures, we might not see a visible response. We might not be able to report a certain number of baptisms or a certain number of responses or how many people came forward to pray. Instead, we are depending upon the Lord Himself to stir and move in the hearts of people to where HE is persuading, and they come to genuine faith.

 

... We should go to the Scriptures ourselves and reason with them and see if these things are indeed so ... We have no excuse ... Be a Berean ... Go to the Scriptures and see if these things are true ... We should be Bereans - people of the book. We should give ourselves to understanding and seeing if these things are true, and then we use these Scriptures to persuade other people. We reason from the Scriptures to convince them of who Christ is. We don't figure out how to have some huge city-wide meeting, have the best music we can possibly have to entertain and get people in, get the most compelling speaker who's going to come and tell us some sad stories, make sure we have a couple of testimonies, make sure everyone cries by those testimonies that come - and then somehow give them an appeal for which they can come forward.

 

That is not how we're going to change America or how we're going to turn our world upside down. We can only turn our world upside down by being people of this book and by reasoning from these Scriptures and letting the Word of God produce faith in hearers ...