15 February, 2012 11:41
PREACHING or PEDDLING PILLS?
What’s with all the pill pushing, and peddling we see these days on Christian television? It seems every Tom, Dick & Harry televangelist is promoting a health product of some sort. Lately my emails are filled with ads for certain health product companies that are tied to Christian magazines. This sudden graze for man’s physical wellbeing seems to have eclipsed the wellbeing of one’s soul & spirit. Christian leaders everywhere want to sell you their ‘holy grail’ to glorious health. Most insist their supplements hold the key to genuine health and happiness whether it’s royal jelly, vitamin B12, C, or D or some other recent discovery or concoction they have found or formulated. In order to more effectively peddle their products, they solicit the help of some doctor or expert that will back up their claims. One almost feels guilty not buying from them, fearing that without these supplements you are depriving and dishonoring the very body God gave you. If only they could make you feel that way about sin! Talk about health – the Church would suddenly find herself renewed, strengthened, and free from lethargy, complacency and her lukewarm condition. But maybe that’s too much to ask from telemarketers or is that televangelists?
As far as I recall, the only time that supplements are ever mentioned in the New Testament was when Paul encouraged Timothy to take a ‘little’ wine for his stomach’s sake. Now I’m not opposed to Christians being healthy. I take my fair share of pills everyday and try to eat sensibly, and exercise as often as I can. The point I’m trying to make is WHAT IS GOING ON for HEAVEN’S SAKE? Have these leaders run out of things to talk about? Just look around you and see what’s taking place. In case you haven’t noticed, the world is falling apart spiritually, economically, politically, socially, and morally and they are selling pills! I thought we had a mandate to preach the gospel. Didn’t Jesus tell us not to worry about our bodies, but rather to fear Him that has the power to destroy both body and soul in hell? Let’s face it we spend way too much time fussing over our bodies and not enough time on our spiritual health. Perhaps if we fasted more and buffeted our bodies, we would achieve better spiritual health, not to mention the physical benefits derived from it.
The old saying ‘As goes the church so goes the world’ is especially true today. God is looking for people willing to become laborers together with Him. Men and women who will die to self – self pity, self centeredness, self interest, self promotion, self awareness, etc and take up their cross and follow Him. The greatest supplement in the world is doing the will of God. Jesus stunned his disciples by telling them that he was no longer hungry. Remember they had gone to buy food and had left Jesus behind because he was weary. Upon their return Jesus told them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ Jesus knew that the greatest energy boost for His weariness came from doing the will of His Father.
Now if we could only bottle that and sell it, both heaven and earth would benefit. The only problem is, there’s no money to be made from it. Little wonder the televangelists aren’t talking about it. Hey, I’ll let you in on a secret. There is treasure to be made from it. Now it won’t show up on your 401K or bank record but it will show up in eternity.
So let’s stop peddling pills and start preaching and proclaiming the gospel instead.
4 December, 2011 11:05
COSMETIC THEOLOGY
One of the fastest growing segments of medical science is the increasingly popular trend of cosmetic surgery. Tens of thousands of women, as well as men, are flocking to these gifted surgeons every year to undergo some form of plastic surgery.
What began as a means of helping those disfigured by war, fire, or accident, has now broadened to the removal or correction of something that these people feel hinders their overall appearance or well being.
Listed under the heading of cosmetic surgery you will find the following: liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, face lift, tummy tuck, forehead lift, collagen injections etc. The list is almost endless. Ask anyone who has had this type of surgery and they will tell you how much better they feel about themselves. Surgery had removed for them their ‘problem’ and given them the appearance and acceptance they always wanted.
While I don’t begrudge these people this luxury, I’m more concerned with the spiritual counterpart that I see happening in the Body of Christ. I’m referring to what I call ‘cosmetic theology’.
There is a new generation of believers who seem to think that God is too old and decrepit, and therefore greatly in need of a ‘facelift’ to enhance His image. They reason that in order to ‘sell’ God to the masses He needs to shed a few pounds, remove a few wrinkles, and adopt a more positive image.
One of the blemishes that these ‘plastic theologians’ have tried to remove is the occasional scowl they see on God’s face. Nobody likes to be around someone who gets angry, jealous, or revengeful. After all, everybody knows that a smile will win you , but a frown will put people off. A ‘god’ that would send someone to hell is just not marketable. Neither is a ‘god’ of absolutes. Who wants a ‘god’ that doesn’t compromise or bend a little? If we can do away with the moral Law, and substitute it with ‘grace’ instead, perhaps then ‘god’ will be a little more appealing. Have you noticed the recent ‘Botox’ injection? God is increasingly being referred to these days as ‘Papa’. Now I don’t have a problem with God as our Father, but He is also the Judge of all the earth, as well as the King of Kings. Papas are loving, playful, and fun to hang around. Kings and Judges on the other hand are not so endearing. You get my point.
This type of cosmetic theology has been taking place for some time now without us even being aware of what has been happening. We tend to focus on all the so called positive attributes of God, and avoid anything that we deem negative. I remember as a child people having promise boxes, from which they would draw a promise from the Scriptures. Like fortune cookies, they always had something good to say to the reader. This is like Moses reading only the blessings of God to His people, but never the curses that resulted from their disobedience.
Yes, I too love verses like Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and hope’ But God also warns His people what will happen to them if they disobey Him – ‘For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “As my anger and my wrath have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you will become a curse, an object of horror…” Jeremiah 42:18.
The leader of the nation’s largest ‘church’ openly admits he is not called to preach against sin but rather to encourage people. We all love ice cream, but a good preacher, like a good parent, will make us eat our spinach too.
Well, you get my point. God isn’t in need of our help. He’s not looking for a new PR firm to help Him bolster His image. He is perfect in all His ways, and therefore, has no need for plastic surgery!
21 November, 2011 10:34
DOES GRACE DETOUR GOD’S LAW?
A close friend of mine recently accused me of ‘bible bashing’ them –that’s code for ‘I don’t want anyone telling me that what I’m doing is wrong.’ This friend knows the scriptures well but doesn’t want to submit to them, choosing rather to find a ‘loophole’ that will provide them amnesty from obedience. Reasoning with this person was out of the question. They refused to listen, at least to God’s Word.
Surprisingly they soon found plenty of ‘friends’ that supported their actions insisting that ‘grace’ was far more merciful than the Law. In other words they were looking for a way to circumnavigate the Law that clearly stood in opposition to their plans.
But is that really the function of grace? Is grace more amiable and agreeable to one’s ‘rebellion’ than the Law? The truth is, that grace raises God’s standard higher than the Law, thereby making the Law mild in comparison. Take for example what Jesus said to His disciples on the mountain as He taught them the ways of His Kingdom. ‘You have heard… (Law) YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER…But I say to you (grace) that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty…’ ‘You have heard that it was said (Law) YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTRY’ but I say to you (grace) that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
These verses clearly reveal that ‘grace’ raises the bar significantly higher than the Law.
For those who insist that they are no longer under the Law but grace, fail to realize the meaning of what they are saying. In their mind they are wrongly assuming that ‘grace’ provides much more ‘wiggle room’ than the Law. In their mind, what the Law denies them, grace provides them. In the case of my friend, this was the right to do their own thing with God’s approval, or so they thought.
Grace today has become the ultimate scapegoat. Grace however is not just a ‘thing’ but a person –the Spirit of grace. The Spirit of grace is also the Holy Spirit who in turn is God. The question then is, is God in conflict with Himself? Is grace in conflict with Law? God forbid!
The Law’s weakness lay in the fact that it was a standard only, but didn’t provide the person with the ability to uphold that standard. That is where grace comes in. Consider the following little rhyme from the pen of John Bunyan.
RUN JOHN RUN THE LAW DEMANS
BUT GIVES US NEITHER FEET NOR HANDS
FAR BETTER NEWS THE GOSPEL BRINGS
IT BIDS US FLY AND GIVES US WINGS
Grace then, does not disarm the *Law,(* the moral requirements of the Law) but rather arms the believer to keep what they were otherwise powerless to perform. Whatever way you look at it, there is no escape from obedience to God’s declared will. According to God’s word the Law is righteous. Grace appeared to teach us to deny ungodliness…and live righteously. Neither Law nor grace are in conflict with each other, but both stand in opposition to lawlessness.
John Nolland’s commentary on Luke, to 16:16ff.:
"Paradoxically the bestowal of the free and generous love of the heavenly Father makes yet more rigorous demands upon those who will respond than had the law and prophets that preceded it." And, "In Luke’s understanding here, the preaching of the good news of the kingdom of God, quite the contrary to offering easy entry into the kingdom, involves an intensification of the demands of the law."
Nolland, J. (2002). Vol. 35B: Word Biblical Commentary : Luke 9:21-18:34. Word Biblical Commentary (820). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
