What has happened and what is Happening

Don’t know who to credit for this thought, Rushoony, Bahnsen , Scott??? Because history moves so slow and our occupying position in it is so narrow it can be hard to see what is happening or has happened.
This is about where we have been and where we are going, think long term…

Its weird but I actually would rather see Obama win, than McCain. Now I am not one of those who thinks we need to finish going to hell in a hand basket quickly so Jesus can return.

I will vote for Baldwin as an expression of my fear of the Lord, trying to be a faithful servant. If another believer voted for, like a John McArthur, or a God fearing uncle, I would say Amen. The harmony would be in the agreement that our God gives us direction in our voting. That agreement to Gods principle’s and not whether it leads us to the exact same candidate, is important. Just as you could have 6 homeschooling families all using different materials, but shooting for the same biblical goals.

The last two mornings I listened to Otto Scott talk about "the Media and Christianity" and a second talk called “How should Christians respond to the media?” Free mp3

Both done in the mid??? 80’s . The first talk was mostly a historical perspective and I thought was loaded with good stuff. Media, especially movies, 1900 through Post WWII. You put this talk with Botkins two talks from Vision Forums, ” the history of the world conference” on how the Columbia School etc were made to tear down Christianity and the Disney talks from Vision Forum on how Walt tried to save the shadow’s of Christianity and what a picture you get! He illustrates how media went from respecting Christians, printing sermons, asking major pastors what they thought of the issues of the day to one of mocking and ridiculing.

Scott says it was partly because the Christian faith was silent about the millions sent to die during WWI. The incongruity and silence from the pulpits had the effect of “feeling like the faith had let down its members, ” (something to that effect)

Scott didn’t say this but it’s what jumped out at me. Its like Christianity was more interested in Rah Rah for “our” nation, etc etc. Christianity was fully in the grip of evangelicalism, which means no law of God and no Sovereignty of God. Without which the Christian faith becomes all about getting people saved, and trying to stop the advance of evil (which is impossible without Gods Law) The believers themselves are swept into the gravitational pull of the evangelical black hole of inward pietism. The Standard was gone and the faith was more about humanistic standards than Gods. No dancing, no wine, no movies, etc etc. Say hi to the Pharasee’s for we with our human traditions had made the Law of God null and void. It was this shadow of the Christian faith, this cheap imitation, that the early humanists of science kicked up and down the street.

We lost the Puritan / Reformational idea of all of life being under Gods jurisdiction and picked up the puritan quirk of attaching penalties to behaviors that God may have said …“don’t do this”… but which he never sanctioned a penalty for. We became stricter than God in the name of God, but that means we supplant God when we go beyond his Law. (That’s a Rushdoony Rob!) This is why we love government. “There ought to be a law!”...so we pass another thousand. Gods system doesn’t allow for this. Two base commandments, to 10, with 600 case laws and we are done. Now that’s liberty.

The problem one hundred years ago was, we didn’t even know we had lost anything.

Now going to the second talk. At first I thought that there was nothing there, kind of a dud. Too dated as from the 80’s. He talked about the different “new” media, the Christian response to the non Christian media that were being birthed. Magazines and some news letters. He makes mention of John Lofton and how he dared, he dared! to ask Jean Kirkpatrick what her religion was. Even conservatives started complaining. (how dare our faith be shown in public!) This is the same John Lofton that Swanson interviewed last week on his not voting for McCain show. People freaked. To ask a public official, what is the basis, for their attitudes, judgments and behaviors.

But over the course of the day I started to see that really here was a snapshot of the faith from the 80’s that I could compare to today and a hundred years ago.

Turn of the century 1900, what were Gods people doing? The Christian faith was a husk, moralism’s really. Yes People loved Jesus. But if Jesus stood amidst them and said “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luk 6:46 they would’ve gone huh? Machen was crying out in the wilderness then, and no one knew what he was talking about. The Christians would’ve put Jesus in jail for making wine as Swanson says.

By the 80’s Otto Scott was excited! The Christian’s started to find their identity again, instead of Fallwell saying “no Christian should be involved in politics”( which he did say) the light turned on and he started saying” hey we should be involved in this. ”But except for a very narrow exception it was involvement from a humanistic understanding. Chalcedon and Rushdoony and others ( not many) started pressing the crown rights of king Jesus. They spoke the L word out loud. Gods Law.

You fast forward from the mid 80’s to today.

Turn of the century 2000 and the temptation is to look at how much further the culture has slipped. Don’t look at the world, look at what God’s people are doing. Look at how much of the church has found the lost book of the Law. Now I could rattle off many, many different multifaceted ministries that come from bedrock principles of sola scriptura and are not afraid of Gods Law. Doing daily radio shows even. There is a small but growing body of “families”, not individuals, not believers, but FAMILIES of believers that are orienting as much of life as they can to line up with Gods Word! More and more of these families are yoking together into congregations that are like nothing that has been seen…for a long, long time. God is doing it all over the nation.

Last night and tonight Doulgas Wilson is going toe to toe with Christopher Hitchens , the poster boy for angry secular humanism . It is going onto DVD. Wilson will go after Hitchen’s presuppositions and Hitchen’s is gonna get spanked.

Today a politician cannot hide behind “I’m neutral, I don’t have a religious position” Today a growing body in the church can see how its just a fig leaf and we can show that they are religious fanatics. I bet Hitchen’s is getting his leaf pulled off tonight.

Just Look at us!!!! We are shining the light of Gods word into each others faces! We are not Seminary students, we are fathers, heads of households trying to press into taking every thought captive. Otto Scott would be screaming praises to God to have seen this! He said "we will be victorious. But we may not get to see it." How many years ago would we all have been going... huh?

Mathew 7:2”…with the measure you use, so will it be measured to you.” We are used to using this verse as a measure of how we judge others. I might be wrong, but in the shower the other night I thought you can also take this verse and say. By what standard? What do you use to reason with? What do you use to decide what should be done? What controls your thought process?

For a long time in the church, we have used the worlds measuring stick, we have used rationality , we have leaned onto our own understanding even though our Lord said “my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts” You will wind up grabbing the arc every time.

Any form of thinking not based on God’s word is Humanism. And with Humanistic thinking you will get Humanism. God will not be mocked….By the measure you use, so it will be measured to you.matt7:2 …as you plant so shall you reap. If God’s people move in terms of Humanism they will reap Humanism. And we have reaped it in spades.

God is returning understanding to his people. I do think it is the fruit of those who first returned to all of Gods word and his law. If you are faithful with a little…

Its our turn, we too, must show ourselves faithful.

We can go back 100 hundred years and see how the church had no center which gave us what we see around us today. Today, not much of the church is there, but a flame is burning around Gods Word and his Law and I won’t get to see its fruit 100 years from now, but it will bear fruit! His word will not return void. Our children’s, children will eat that fruit.

Because history moves so slow and our occupying position in it is so narrow it can be hard to see what is happening or has happened. The world will say,we are winning! We must say, our God is moving, and quietly put on our seat belts.