Is it the Devil, or is it God?

When trials and tribulations come, the first reaction of many Christians is to blame the Devil. It is not uncommon to hear a reference to Job noting that his trials were explicitly from the Devil. While that is true, it is also a fact that God allowed Satan to persecute Job. God’s purpose in letting Job be tested was to prove his faithfulness. Undoubtedly, God preserved the account as an encouragement to those who would suffer after Job’s time. (For more see “Understanding the Book of Job”)

 The New Testament also warns that our enemy has believers in his sights. As Peter puts it, “The Devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” James also recognizes the reality of the Devil’s work recommending that we, “Resist the Devil, and he will flee from [us].” Many teachers have named three sources of the temptation believers face: “The world, the flesh, and the Devil.” Finally, Paul notes that “Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against… spiritual forces in the heavenlies.” While he doesn’t name the Devil, all of Scripture testifies that he is the leader of a host of malevolent followers. In another place, Paul calls the Devil, “The prince of the power of the air,” and Jesus called him “the ruler of this world.”

So, the Devil is real; he is perhaps the second most powerful spirit being in the universe. I believe that his enmity with God began before the creation of the world, and in fact, the main reason for the creation of humankind was to show all God’s creatures – including the Devil – how much He loves them. (Read Ephesians 3:8-11) It is easy to become so wrapped up in the things of this world that we forget that we are merely pawns in a cosmic battle that has been going on since before the foundation of the world. (See “It’s Not All About You”) Yes, the Devil loves to cause trouble for believers, but we take comfort in the words of John that, “Greater is He that is in [us] than he that is in the world.”

But we cannot escape the fact that God also causes trouble for His children. The message of the prophets in the Old Testament repeatedly states that God is the author of calamity. This idea can be found in many passages, but the clearest expression may be Isaiah 45:7 where God says, “I form light, and I create darkness; I make peace and I create evil; I am Yahweh; I do all these things.” As I have written many times, the Hebrew word translated “evil” in this passage (and many others) has a broader meaning than our modern concept of moral evil or wickedness. Obviously, God cannot do morally evil things because that would violate His perfect holiness. But He can do calamity, disaster, and adversity when He finds it is necessary.

There are two primary reasons why God does sometimes cause trouble for His people. The one we see most often in Old Testament history is for judgment. The idea that God punishes disobedience goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Because of their failure to obey God, Adam and Eve were kicked out of Paradise and promised a life of blood, toil, sweat and tears. When God delivered His law through Moses, it had undeniable threats for those who choose to disobey. Blessings for obedience; curses for disobedience. (Read Deuteronomy 28) God desires a holy people, and if they can’t find their way, He prods them with the rod of correction.

Lest we think that God’s judgment was a uniquely Old Testament attitude, consider Ananias and Saphira. In the very early days of the church, this couple wanted to impress their neighbors with a sizeable gift to the community. Sadly, they misrepresented the actual value of their offering, and received a stiff penalty for lying: they were summarily executed by the Holy Spirit. When the Jewish enforcer, Saul of Tarsus, refused to see the truth of God’s Messiah, God struck him blind, then returned his sight when he repented. As the Apostle Paul, he wrote to the Corinthians that their disrespectful attitude towards the Lord’s Supper had resulted in some of them having died. The message is clear: don’t mess with Yahweh God.

The other reason for the trials we all face is explained by the writer of Hebrews. The author points out that any loving father will discipline his children to help form their character. Since God is the ultimate loving Father, His discipline is always corrective although it is not pleasant during its administration. We may feel extremely uncomfortable, even rejected by God when He chastises us, but as Hebrews says, the punishment is the proof of God’s loving concern for us, and the result is our improvement.

Whatever the underlying cause of our troubles, our response should be the same. Both Peter and James encourage believers to rejoice when they encounter trials. This is not an invitation to masochism; the reason for joy is because the result of properly endured trials is character growth. It is important to pray for clarity from God regarding the reason for our tribulations. If God is passing judgment on our wayward behavior, we need to know that so we can correct it. If our troubles are simply the result of living in a fallen world where the Devil still attacks when he can, our response must be to resist his temptations and flee to God’s promised protection.

Troubles will come. Jesus Himself promised worldly tribulation, but He followed the promise with another comforting fact: “In the world you have affliction, but have courage! I have conquered the world.” Until we are resurrected on the new earth where righteousness rules, we will be called to suffer trials. The good news for believers is, “Weeping lodges for the evening, but in the morning comes rejoicing.” I can’t wait for the dawn of that Day!

Related posts: The Goodness of God in the Bad Times; Understanding the Book of Job: The Heiser Effect; It’s Not All About You;

How to Choose a Church

A three-word answer should be sufficient: pray about it. That should be enough, but God did give us minds for the purpose of decision-making. Still three words apply: pray and think. So, what are the data points to consider when looking for a place to call home in the body of Christ. You might want to read my post, “What is the Church?” as background to this question. I ended that post with the very ungrammatical statement that “church” is a verb. The point is that the true church is believers in action. What I want to develop here is a list of biblical actions we should look for in a potential church. I am also going to use the word “church” to refer to a local body of believers.

The first thing on my list is an absolute: the Word of God must be preached and taught in its fullness. There is room for some disagreement as to what “fullness” means. For example, churches that use the term “full gospel” usually go over-full by requiring speaking in tongues as a necessary sign of salvation. That’s not gospel; that’s extra-biblical. The rest of the “full gospel” program falls into an area of opinion: miracles, healing and other supernatural activities may or may not be part of your expectations. In my mind they neither qualify nor disqualify a church.

Another common difference between churches that preach the Word of God consistently relates to their interpretation of the New Covenant. Churches that preach so-called covenant theology generally compare the new birth in Christ to the Old Covenant practice of marking God’s chosen through circumcision. Because of this, they baptize infant children of believers to identify them with the family of God. Most follow this some years later with a confirmation that establishes the validity of the infant baptism.

This practice differs dramatically from the beliefs of those who hold to adult, believer’s baptism. That practice traces back to the time of the Reformation when certain groups broke away from the other reformers by requiring adults to be baptized. They were called “anabaptists” which means re-baptizers since they were generally baptizing adults who had been baptized as infants. The name became shortened over the years to what we now know as Baptists.

The Word of God can be preached faithfully in both covenant and Baptist-type churches. My search of the Scriptures has led me to conclude that adult, believer baptism by immersion is the purest biblical practice. However, I believe that there will be myriads of brothers and sisters in Heaven who were baptized as infants. There are some groups who believe one cannot be saved without water baptism. This takes the issue too far in my opinion. Baptism is an essential step of obedience not an essential part of salvation. The only essential baptism is that of the Spirit, and that may or may not involve water. In any case, the issue of baptism is one that we can agree to disagree on.

Once you are satisfied that a church is preaching the Word, you need to learn what they are doing about it. After all, if church is a verb, actions reveal the true nature of the body in question. There are two main reasons for a church to exists: one is to nurture its members and the other is to reach the lost. Several years ago God prompted me to write a book called Lead a Horse to Water in which I lamented the lack of community outreach in many otherwise healthy churches. You should find vital nurturing and intentional outreach programs in the church you choose.

Preaching, teaching, and reaching are three essentials. You may be blessed to find several candidate churches that meet these criteria. In that case, you look at non-essential matters. Are the location and times of services convenient? Do you feel welcomed when you first attend? Does the worship style suit your taste? Whether they sing hymns accompanied by an organ or feature a contemporary worship band, the clincher is whether people are encouraged to worship God. It will be important to find a church with an active prayer life and a strong sense of community. These things are mentioned as distinctives of the very first church in the book of Acts. Keep in mind that no church can be all things to all people. We are called to unity not uniformity. Scripture leaves room for diversity.

Another matter which leaves room for disagreement regards the government of the church. In Protestant churches there are two basic types of government with variations in each type. I am going to simplify the categories by inventing my own names for each. I call them democratic and dogmatic. Neither term is perfect, but I will explain what I mean. The Greek word “demos” means people; democratic government is government by the people. A democratic church allows members to vote on important issues facing the body.

There are very few purely democratic bodies because most have a leadership structure that oversees the workings of the church. The leaders define the issues that the church votes on. I chose the word “oversees” purposely. The word the Apostle Paul often uses for church leaders is overseer. In democratic type churches, the overseers are often elected by the body, or if not democratically chosen, the leaders themselves choose the overseers creating a self-perpetuating board.

The type of church government I am calling dogmatic also comes from a Greek word: dogma. A dogma is a teaching; to be dogmatic is to stick to the teaching. The dogma or teaching of Scripture lends two different names to a type of government that is led by specially chosen individuals. Paul uses both names interchangeably. They are episcopal and presbyterian. The common English translation of the Greek word for overseer is where we get the name for the episcopal type of government. In Greek, a presbyter is an elder, a name we also use for church leaders.

One other leadership term from the Greek has come to us as well: deacon. Some churches combine the deacons and elders to form a hierarchical form of government. Often, pastors, another biblical term, serve as elders with deacons as advisors. Frustrating though it may be, there is no clear outline in Scripture for church government. The dogma I have mentioned lends itself to several possible interpretations.

The key for me is this: the New Testament does not mention congregational voting. The reason for this is clear to me. Throughout the New Testament, church leaders are specially gifted and chosen because they have the correct qualities: they are to be full of the spirit and wisdom, as well as several other qualifications Paul lists in his letters. It is highly unlikely that every voting member of a congregation would meet the biblical qualifications for leadership. To suggest that a group of people with questionable attributes should pass judgment on God’s will for a church is ludicrous. As I said in “Wise Up, America,” our culture has become infected with a desire for independence and individualism that has crept into our thinking about the church and our relationship to God.

The next thing on my list should be with the essentials, but I list it here because all the non-essential matters should be satisfactory or this last, but most important item won’t be comfortable. I assume you know what your spiritual gift is; everyone has one; read 1 Corinthians 12. This is where prayer becomes a necessity. You must ask God (and perhaps the leadership of the candidate church) if your gift is needed, or perhaps whether it is even recognized by the church. Needless to say, if your question is met with a blank stare, this is not the church for you. Any church that does not recognize and utilize the spiritual gifts of its members as a regular course of action is not worth consideration.

Because I am married, I have one more essential criterion: my wife must agree with the choice. I covet her input because she has an extremely sensitive spirit. She can pick up on things that slide right past my radar, probably because I am too intellectually concerned for my own good. The Apostle Paul would describe me as being soulish (that’s the intellect) rather than spiritual in some things. He told the Romans that those who are in the flesh (soulish) are not able to please God. It goes without saying that I want our choice of a church home to be pleasing to God.

I have already said that no one church can meet everyone’s expectations; I must also say that there is no perfect church. Why? Because churches are made of people and people are imperfect. When choosing a church, find one that comes closest to meeting the biblical criteria, and then pitch in. Do church to the best of your ability. Remember: you are the church.

Related posts: What is the Church? Bringing the Kingdom

Wise Up, America

 If you read this blog regularly, you know I have begun to consider God’s judgment of Israel as a warning for America. In the same way that humans need a sense of self to be fully human, a culture needs touchstones, markers, perhaps a history to remain vital. If America were a person, we would be in the midst of an identity crisis right now. That may be the best explanation for what is happening to America: we are losing a sense of who we are. In the two- and one-half centuries since the nation’s founding, there have been many dramatic changes. Although some of the changes were by choice, many were the inevitable result of societal pressures that stemmed from global human development.

The industrial revolution was just getting in first gear when the colonists decided to break the bonds of imperialism and strive for independence from England. The first couple generations of independent Americans saw the country move from primarily agrarian to early industrial, especially in the northern states. The war between the States proved the supremacy of the industrial over the agrarian society—among other things. As people moved farther from the land that supplied their basic necessities – food, water, shelter – they became less dependent on individual effort and more dependent on a societal system to provide for them. Instead of being the producers of their needs, they became the beneficiaries of the collective efforts of many people. In effect, they became cogs in a giant, constantly growing machine without which they could not survive.

Alongside this societal development, a revolution of sorts was taking place in theological circles as well. Many of the variants of orthodoxy which still exist today had their beginnings before the young nation had its hundredth birthday. The earlier reformation that had split Christendom into Protestants and Catholics was being repeated, this time splintering the existing protestants into further sub-groupings. The global disappointment that infected the church in the aftermath of the First World War led many theologians to rethink their concepts of God and society.

Probably the most damaging result was what has come to be called theological liberalism and included various degrees of doubt about the validity and authority of the Bible. There are few things that incur the wrath of God as surely as misusing the office of His prophets. When people in Old Testament Israel claimed to speak for God but had no connection or authority to do so, God became irate. This situation was at the core of why first Israel then Judah were allowed by God to be taken captive and removed from the land of promise.

I am not equating America with Israel; God no longer deals with a nation as His own. In this age, God deals with a church universal and with people individually. Even so, America once had a grounding in the Scriptures, laws that reflected Judeo-Christian principles, and churches that preached the Word of God. Over the course of the last century, America has lost its foundation, repudiated Christian principles as law, and become infested with churches that deny critical elements of the Word. If the majority of its citizens wish to live in a pagan society, America’s representative form of government makes that possible. If the church is willing to accept false prophets, that is a more serious matter.

If God chooses to deal with nations as He has done in the past, America is in trouble. In the following excerpt from Jeremian 23:15-39, I have substituted preacher for prophet, which is an acceptable translation of the Hebrew concept.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the [preachers] who are [preaching] to you… Behold, I am against the [preachers],’ declares the Lord, ‘who use their tongues and declare, “The Lord declares”… ‘They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination not from the mouth of the Lord… Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.’”

Again, I repeat: the city given to the fathers was the biblical promised land. It is not America. But applying the principle of God’s judgment of apostate Israel to the church in America is valid. The church, the bride of Christ is going to be presented “without spot or blemish.” I believe God will do whatever is necessary to bring that to pass. America never was a Christian nation in the biblical sense; we never had a theocracy where God ruled directly. However, there was a time when you could detect a biblical foundation to most of the laws and practices of this nation.

In the same way that America has drifted away from her founding principles, the church has drifted away from preaching the whole Word of God. America is in the midst of an identity crisis; scarier still, so is the church. As a nation, we may never again find our identity in the community spirit and respect for individual effort found in the former agrarian society. Unless you are one of the few farmers left in America, that is lost. In the church we have our identity in, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.” I pray with Paul that we may, “Let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom.” The Psalmist says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” America needs to wise up.

Related posts: What’s the Deal With Nineveh; America Held Captive; Today’s Chaldean Chastisement; The Winnowing Fork of God

What’s the Deal with Nineveh?

Those who know their Old Testament prophets will remember that Nineveh is the wicked city where God called Jonah to preach repentance. The story goes that Jonah ran from his calling, was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a giant fish. Three days later he was vomited onto the shore at Nineveh. As a result of Jonah’s preaching, the people repented, and God stayed His hand of judgement – but only temporarily. Some years after Jonah’s tale, Nineveh again draws a notice of judgement by God recorded in the less well-known book of Nahum.

By the time of Nahum’s prophecy, Nineveh had fallen back into its wicked ways. As the capital of Assyria, the city is representative of the whole empire, which was substantial at that time. Assyria’s reach extended from north of the Promised Land south to Egypt and east to Babylon. In 722 B.C., the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria and her people removed and replaced with foreigners. It is this mix of foreigners with the ten northern Jewish tribes that is the basis for the Jews hatred of Samaritans we read about in the New Testament.

For the next century or so, Assyria troubled the southern kingdom of Judah as well. God miraculously stopped the Assyrians from taking Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah. Nahum then came to tell Assyria that things were about to get very bad for them. It appears the Ninevites behaved similarly to their Jewish neighbors: they had moments of recognizing the God of Israel for who He was; then they would fall back into idolatry. We know about their repentance in Jonah’s day. However, by the time of Hezekiah, the Assyrian king mocked God and paid the ultimate price for his indiscretion.

This is a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament. The Pharoah in Moses’ life was forced to admit the superiority of Yahweh over his pantheon of lesser gods. There’s this business with Nineveh. In Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar saw the power of Yahweh, but his allegiance didn’t change. Then, he finally succumbed to the God of Israel being driven insane for a number of years. After the conquest of Judah and her captivity in Babylon, King Darius came to believe in the power of Daniel’s God after the episode in the lion’s den. In Nehemiah’s day, his Persian master saw the righteousness of his servant and granted him not only permission, but finance and protection to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple.

We might be tempted to read the Old Testament Bible books as a record of only God’s chosen people. While that is certainly its focus, being the story of redemption through God’s servants, there is much more to see if we look more deeply. There is an idea hidden back in Genesis that I never saw until I read Michael S. Heiser’s book, Unseen Realm. Heiser points out that in the table of nations listed in Genesis 10, the seventy that are identified do not include the one that became known as Israel. That revelation waits until after the scattering of all nations at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. That chapter closes with the continuation of Shem’s descendants down to God’s chosen man, Abraham.

In Genesis 12, God promises to make a great nation of Abraham’s descendants. The rest of Genesis, indeed, the rest of the Old Testament is a record of God’s dealing with His chosen people, Israel. One might wonder what happened to the other seventy nations. Anytime you read the Psalms or the prophets, notice how many times “the nations” or a specific nation are mentioned. One particularly revealing passage is in Psalm 82. I have dealt with this in more detail elsewhere, but briefly, Psalm 82 shows Yahweh God chastising other “gods” for their mismanagement of the nations under their care. Yahweh did not abandon the seventy nations represented in Genesis 10; He was always looking out for them. Psalm 82 closes with the plea, “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, because you shall inherit all the nations.”

The word “inherit” can be translated “take possession.” That is precisely what happened on the cross when Christ defeated the powers which had been attempting to thwart the plan of redemption for generations. Colossians 2:15 says, “[When Christ] had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a display of them in public, triumphing over them by it.” That was the beginning of the fulfillment of the many prophecies in the Old Testament that the nations would eventually bow before the One True God.

I draw two lessons from this. First, God uses whomever He chooses. God’s sovereignty is not limited to His people; He is sovereign over all things. Although it is natural to have concerns about countries like Russia, China, and Iran, the biblical record assures us that nothing can happen anywhere in the world that is not under God’s supervision. We do not rejoice over the war in Ukraine or Chinese persecution of Christians or Iran’s nuclear threats. But we can rest in the knowledge that nothing can hinder the completion of God’s redemptive plan and His kingdom’s advance. We may not be happy about the world situation, but we can have joy that our ultimate future is safe in God’s hands.

The second lesson is that we should always be about the business of reaching the lost. I like the popular song that says no one is so lost that they can’t be found. I am not fooled by the cavalier statement by some that we are all God’s children. We are all His creatures, and He loves everyone (John 3:16). But only those who respond to that love – who put their trust in the One who displayed that love on the cross – only those people are children of God, co-heirs with Christ.

I think the biggest problem facing Christians in America today is that we are so wealthy and well-cared for that the concept of being lost is lost. Here is the scary thing from this lesson: If this nation continues to turn away from God as she has recently, there is no reason to think He won’t do the same thing He did to Nineveh, Babylon, and apostate Israel. He is the God of love, but He is also a God of judgment. Politicians love saying God bless America in their speeches. I think what we ought to be doing is adapting the British saying: God save the King (Jesus). And follow that with God save America. Then put legs on that prayer.

Related posts: Happiness and Joy; The Heiser Effect; Defending the Wrath of God; Why Jesus Wept; Bringing the Kingdom; Answering Rob Bell #4