BRIGHT SADNESS
The beginning looks like the end
Today’s offering to you is, in part, setting the stage. Since January, I have been thinking about struggling - in general and specifically. I recalled the worst time of my life and a letter I wrote (to no one, I guess, and to everyone who happens to find it) about passing through tragic circumstances. I say “passing through” because that is what happened, but in truth, all I could see - with absolute certainty - was a closing door. I could not see any “passing through.” Only an end.
(Though I have posted the letter elsewhere previously) I hope to share that letter, written just before the door closed with the grim specter of final loss sitting on its haunches looking at me night and day awaiting its time to come for me.
I was resigned. God knew this would happen. God knew the tragic company that would fill our home, how others would whisper and still others would scoff openly. God knew. He always knew. He always knew the day and manner of my death.
I have learned something since those days, and the letter, though written years ago, pours out honesty, and I feel that it fits the season we are entering.
The question isn’t, “What if I die?”
The question is “What if I live?”
More to come. For now, I’m setting the stage with an extended dive into what stood out in scripture. If it’s too much to read, skip down past the Super Bowl service pictures. I sum up my feelings there. Eventually.
WHAT STOOD OUT IN SCRIPTURE
2 Timothy 3:10-15
But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra – what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Look at what the apostle mentioned: his doctrine, his manner of life, his purpose, his faith, and all the rest. I find the period of time before the collection and attestation of what we call the New Testament very interesting mainly because I was raised in a “bible only” part of the world, and verses like this tell me that the Church, the Faith, endured - not because all Christians agreed on what the bible says, but because of the habits and teaching passed from person to person, church to church, in a living tradition.
Yes, many disagreements arose very early on, and some of these would persist for over 100 years. Just think about that: people were born, lived, and died, under teachings that - while very similar to the true Christian understanding - varied on crucial points. (I am thinking of Arianism - which is present today. Here is a video from a couple that I don’t know, but they go through the topic.)
How did the Faith, the True Faith, endure without a single person saying that the bible alone is enough? The “scriptures” refer to what they had - the Hebrew scriptures, likely the Septuagint. They did most assuredly stand on, lean on, what the scriptures said, but when problems arose, the Apostles didn’t just say, “read your bible.” They provided trusted interpretations, lives and patterns consistent with a changed life. They knit together a community of people living out their deaths together. There was an inheritance. It seems to me they offered something that I did not grow up with. (I am grateful for what I grew up with. “Take the bible and apply it to your life” is good advice, but it seems to me that this would not have kept the Gospel ship afloat. The Church is a real, living vessel, and the “Jesus and me” mentality just leads to more fractures, it seems to me…more on this just below.)
“…evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived…”
I don’t know much about Kathryn Krick, but I only had to see a couple of snippets to give her the “nope.”
Would you know if you were evil? Would you know if you were an impostor? Would you know if you were deceived?
How?
What would the standard be?
Here is Krick (I hesitate to even share this)
If your services require hype and sound effects…(I think he was vomiting something invisible - perhaps habits or something)
I acknowledge the importance of story in human life, but we are talking about the Gospel. It needs no hype. No emotional dramatics. It demands a sober, crucified mind.
Imagine trying to convince yourself and others of (fill in the blank) and acting like this. How is it that modern Christianity allows prosperity gospels to abound? Why do people keep supporting these things? How is this any different from the delusion of far-left-leaning liberals screaming over pronouns?
Someone I heard as a youth, John Hagee, was very influential in certain circles. He was a good presenter, often filling the stage backdrop with massive printed graphics that reinforced his theme (there was always a theme…). He was as effective as the television advertisements for the U.S. Army - very motivating.
Unfortunately, he was also selling books that went along with the theme. Unfortunately, he made many predictions. Unfortunately, he was wrong.
Just because he isn’t like Kathryn Krick does not mean he is any better for a Christ-centered culture in America. Many people like him have co-opted and combined patriotism, nationalism, personal pride, and Christianity to give Americans of a certain age their own skewed image of the Gospel - a flag-draped cross that is not against using missiles. Look back at some of his teachings, how he spoke with such certainty. Certainty.
Am I the only one suspicious when he is interviewed and there is always a new book he’s just written? Like he’s on a - can I say it? A book tour? Just like any other author has to do except he has a ready-made audience. He has written over 30 books, but I don’t see anyone calling into question his provocative claims. (I’m sure there are some.)
Are these two people (and people like them) evil? Are they ones that the above bible verse refers to? How do we know? How can we say if something is evil or not? What is the standard? Where did Hagee inherit his ideas from? If he had a disagreement with someone over Bible matters, how would it be settled?
It seems as though the early believers would have had a better way to know than we have. I could be wrong. (See the PATRISTIC section below for more.)
Lastly, the selected passage says these two things:
“…you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them…”
“…and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures…”
“…from whom you have learned…”
I don’t think that these people just passed down memorized scripture. There seems to me to be an entire way of life being transmitted. I could be wrong.
Do I trust that Hagee and others like him are good to learn from? What are we inheriting when we nod along with him? Is there any real transmission of the faith that protected the Church from enemies and dissolution?
These first Believers were being encouraged to hold fast to what they had been shown. It may just be me, but this seems to indicate a kind of culture that completely encompassed and engulfed the person’s life. It seems to me that these people grew up with more than “read the bible and obey it.” It is my sense that their entire life revolved around the newly revealed epicenter of the universe: the Resurrection.
It could just be me, but my perception (from the inside out) is that the proof of things can be seen with our eyes in real time.
There are countless denominations, factions, and assemblies that have inherited the fractious nature of American spirituality. Copies, of copies, of copies, of copies.
These leaders have not helped fix that. Perhaps it cannot be fixed. Perhaps it is good in a way that I cannot see. All I know (again from my limited perspective) is that these types have become part of the noise.
See the image degradation? It’s just an example of what we all know: the farther one gets from the source, the more likely that one is to get it wrong.
The image below looks like an ad, but it is a screenshot from YouTube. Read the title.
Can good intentions be evil? Who is the authority to tell this man that what he is doing is wrong? Would he make a stable foundation to build on? Would you follow him as a spiritual guide?
Look at those views.
609 thousand views. 609,000.
Copies, of copies, of copies, of copies.
Crossroads Church Super Bowl Themed “service” - Don’t even look it up… or do look it up, but grab a trashcan like the guy in the first screenshot. You will need it. Here’s two screenshots from that “service”:
LOST
Are these people trusted guides?
Is this the inheritance handed down from Paul?
Has the original deposit of the Gospel, as handled by the Apostles and transmitted to Believers in their day, been lost? Are we lost if we do nothing?
My opinion: a fractured gospel was passed down, copied, and copied, and copied, and copied - each time the errors getting worse - until the “church” looks like the world.
Not exactly what the Gospel does.
What is being transformed here? What is being sacrificed?
Where is the sober-minded remembrance of death?
What can the clamoring crowd possibly be thinking?
This is not the baptism of cultural elements done by early Christians where they would build on top of pagan temples, Christianize (basically baptize) various customs and such. This is rolling over and hoping those who oppose us pet our bellies.
This is appeasement. This is defeat.
WHAT TO DO
The state of Christianity I see is now little different from anything else in the world I see, and it presses down my heart. Where is the voice of truth? Where is the church? All of these people would say that they are the church and that they are acting according to the spirit of God. This cannot be. This just simply cannot be. Someone is wrong, but who can say? Can we play Bible chess and figure it out? Can we have a verse throwdown and declare a winner? Wait. That’s been done. We all lost.
Maybe My heart is pressed, because the voice of my Savior is lost in the din.
My heart is pressed because I see each person has become their own authority.
Sometimes we just have to start over.
We can admit we are wrong, admit that we are lost, and return.
Anyone would come to that conclusion, but who do we turn to when the culture is so broken? Where are the leaders that the above scripture spoke about? Who can we trust to teach the narrow way? Where is the connection to those believers who suffered under Rome but still transmitted the true Faith?
“But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions…”
Who has a track record that shows no bending to culture and a steadfast adherence to the Gospel? If you are anything like me, these questions are a bit uncomfortable.
They are uncomfortable because each answer I might give is based on a copy of a copy. If I say, “We must return to the Bible as the source of our family’s life,” I must face the fact that every copy has said that about the previous copies.
If knowing scripture were enough, we would not be in this position. Satan knows more scripture than us. If applying scripture were enough, we wouldn’t have thousands of sects. Nevertheless, our copy of a copy of a copy of a copy has reduced the beautiful ship of Christianity - the one that weathered every storm, defended against heresy, taught true love, and never deviated from the Resurrection - to a single person with a single innertube floating in a little pond of their own making.
This looks bad to me. Christianity looks irrelevant.
However, since I actually believe in the Resurrection as taught by the Church since the beginning, I will do what I know to do: get alone, pray in secret, and repent.
Repent for my part in breaking the image of God. Repent for my comfort within this culture. Repent for my unwillingness to be uncomfortable and follow where truth leads. Repent for constantly filling my head with noise instead of silence.
Repent. Stop. Wake up. Look around. Listen. Keep watch. Stock up on oil and keep the lamps burning.
Quietly revolt. Quietly die to this world. Quietly draw swords and guard the gate.
More to come.
BRIGHT SADNESS - THE BEGINNING LOOKS LIKE THE END
CHART
The Pharisees
The most important of the three were the Pharisees because they are the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism. Their main distinguishing characteristic was a belief in an Oral Law that God gave to Moses at Sinai along with the Torah. The Torah, or Written Law, was akin to the U.S. Constitution in the sense that it set down a series of laws that were open to interpretation. The Pharisees believed that God also gave Moses the knowledge of what these laws meant and how they should be applied. This oral tradition was codified and written down roughly three centuries later in what is known as the Talmud.
The Pharisees also maintained that an after-life existed, and that God punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous in the world to come. They also believed in a messiah who would herald an era of world peace.
Pharisees were in a sense blue-collar Jews who adhered to the tenets developed after the destruction of the Temple; that is, such things as individual prayer and assembly in synagogues.1
PATRISTICS
Tertullian, Prescription Against the Heretics, XX, 4 (ANF, Vol. III)
Tertullian lived from roughly 160 AD-240AD, so pretty close to the leaders who assumed their roles after the Apostles
“But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men,—a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed.
Then let all the heresies, when challenged to these two tests by our apostolic church, offer their proof of how they deem themselves to be apostolic. But in truth they neither are so, nor are they able to prove themselves to be what they are not. Nor are they admitted to peaceful relations and communion by such churches as are in any way connected with apostles, inasmuch as they are in no sense themselves apostolic because of their diversity as to the mysteries of the faith.”
Chrysostom - Homily concerning lowliness of mind, commentary on Philippians
And just as a ship, after having run through innumerable surges, and having escaped many storms, then in the very mouth of the harbor having been dashed against some rock, loses the whole treasure which is stowed away in her — so truly did this Pharisee, after having undergone the labors of the fasting, and of all the rest of his virtue, since he did not master his tongue, in the very harbor underwent shipwreck of his cargo. For the going home from prayer, whence he ought to have derived gain, having rather been so greatly damaged, is nothing else than undergoing shipwreck in harbor (a reference to the Publican & Pharisee).2
A shipwreck in the harbor - what an image to contemplate. Put that one in your pocket and keep close.
FOOD
(Click image for recipe)
Because this season is a season of fasting for billions of people on the planet, I thought I’d add a couple of fasting recipes here for fun. They are vegan, becasue fasting food is essentially vegan.
The following bean salad is very similar to something my wife’s family grew up making (totally unrelated to religious reasons). Very tasty. Can be made into a hot soup!
SONG
Instead of one song, I thought I’d share this web page I found where people list their top 10 songs for Lent (it is a Calvinist site). I do not agree with the roles that one or two of the people have, but you can read what they say for yourself.
Okay - one song from this list - a favorite
WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS - Isaac Watts
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
DID THORNS EVER COMPOSE SO RICH A CROWN - heartbreakingly beautiful. That image has stayed with me for a very long time. Love and Sorrow.
BRIGHT SADNESS - THE BEGINNING LOOKS LIKE THE END
Remember -
The question isn’t, “What if I die?”
The question is “What if I live?”
What I pray most -
“How I need You.”
My other cultural inputs
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pharisees-sadducees-and-essenes
http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/quotes.aspx