The church service the next day is amazing. The building is full, scores of people, some from other villages, singing hymns, taking communion, and some of them even reading from the Bible. The tribal chiefs are there too, singing and worshiping with the rest. The mission is an obvious success, and you don’t miss to record it on video.

Then comes Monday morning. The missionary has told you that he needed to travel to the nearest mechanic shop to fix his car, so you are left in the village, and you have the opportunity to sleep late and then spend some time with the local people. You are awakened early in the morning by monotonous singing of several male voices. You look through the window and you see not far away a dozen of men on their knees before something that looks like a Tapir hide on a pole. They sing a few words, then lay prostrate before the pole, then back to their knees and sing a few more words. When you look at the faces of the men, you can recognize some of them from the church service the previous day, and in fact, you can also recognize the village chief who read from the Bible the day before!

Read the rest at

The American Vision » “I’m Not a Social Reformer, I’m Here to Preach the Gospel”.

Supposedly, Israel as a nation was in some sort of “covenant of works” with God and would lose the Land if they violated that covenant.

A “covenant of works” supposedly mandates some level of obedience (since we’re post-Fall at Sinai perfect obedience is not possible) as a condition for some kind of benefit.  This is opposed to a “covenant of grace” which is (here it gets murky) either without conditions or the condition is some sort of faith–though a faith that is oxymoronicly described as a non-action so that it does not count as a “work.”  “Believe” is not a verb in the incoherent grammar of would-be-Reformed theologians.

But what did the “nation” have to do to come under the curses of the covenant that was not also done by individuals?

I’ve been reading through Jeremiah in my regular reading, so I’ll start there:

Chapter 10:

Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
for his images are false,
and there is no breath in them.
They are worthless, a work of delusion;
at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name.

Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O you who dwell under siege!
For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
that they may feel it.”

People are worshiping false gods and are thus about to feel covenant sanctions.  How in God’s name is this not judgment for unbelief–for a failure to trust the true God–for a lack of faith?

From Jeremiah 16:

And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?” then you shall say to them: “Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.”

If you don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing you don’t need to be a Bible scholar to realize that people are losing their place in the land because they have turned to other gods and lords?  Was the Corinthian Church under “a covenant of works” when Paul warned them that they would be destroyed if they committed idolatry (First Corinthians 10.1ff)?

For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Judgment on the nation was judgment on individuals just as national behavior was also the behavior of individuals.  There is nothing done in Israel between Moses and the cross that is any different in principle from the warnings Jesus gives to the churches in Revelation 2-3.

This bizarre theory is completely unBiblical and needs to be mocked or at least repudiated.  There is no justification for it’s existence–to say nothing of its advocates pretending to be theological experts and specially qualified to guard orthodoxy.  They need to become orthodox themselves before they comment on others.

Galatians 2.24

ESV: “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”

NASB: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”

The word here for “guardian” or “tutor” is pedagogue

It does not mean “covenant of works.”

It does not refer to a person known for being harsh and making impossible demands so that the student child longs to play hooky.

This is all just made up and then preached as a erroneous tradition rather than the Word of God.

The tutor or guardian here is a temporary caretaker until Christ comes.  If this is a “live metaphor” then he actually is in charge of leading people to Christ (NASB).  In that case, he is an evengelist.  The Law is fulfilling the Great Commission.

Either way, the point is simply that the Law is a temporary government or economy or administration or dispensation from Sinai until Christ comes.

If someone thinks he can make Galatians 2.24 fit into a Covenant-of-works scheme, fine.  But it is not a prooftext for anything of the sort.

Title: Causes, Evils, Cures, of Heart and Church Divisions

Part One: The Causes of Divisions

Section One: Distempers that Divide

Chapter One: Pride the Chief Dividing Distemper

Pride is the greatest master of misrule in the world; it is the great incendiary in the soul of man, in families, in towns, in cities, in all societies, in church and state: this wind causes tempests to arise. “Only by pride comes contention” (Proverbs 13.10). The Holy Ghost singles out PRIDE as the only cause of all contentions because it is the chief; though there be many in a riot, the whole is usually laid upon the ringleaders. Pride is the ringleader to all riots, divisions, disturbances among us. “Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who deals in proud wrath” (Provers 21.24). Pride may be well indicated for the great common barrator, or wrangler, in all our towns and cities; it makes woeful troubles wherever it comes.

We read in Scripture of the manna that God gave his people; such was the nature of it that the heat of the sun melted it. You will say, “How would it then endure the heat of the oven? For they baked it in the oven.” Yet so it was of a strange kind of nature that it could bear the heat of the oven and not the heat of the sun. Even of such a temper are our hearts; the heat of the sun of prosperity dissolves us, causes us to run one from another. But the heat of the fire of affliction bakes us, brings us and settles us together. It makes us to be one. It takes away our rawness. It consumes many of our ill humors and so composes our spirits into one. The stupidness of our hearts is such that we do not make our brethren’s case our own. But we, for the present having some more liberty than formerly, are lifte up, and in the pride of our hearts push at our brethren and smite our fellow servants. If the troubles be at a little distance from us, though we even hear the cries of our brethren who are in the midst of them, yet we foolishly bless ourselves in our present ease, enjoyments, and hopes, as if our flesh must be spared, our estates and enjoyments continued–yea, raised–whatever becomes of others. O sinful vain spirits befooled and hardened by their pride!

But what are the several workings of pride that make such a stir in the world?

A proud man thinks himself too great to be crossed. “Shall I bear this? I will make you know what it is to do such things against me!” He thinks it a great dishonor to himself to bear anything; therefore he mus needs quarrel and contend, if it is but to show what a man of spirit he is, or to show that he is a man of such worth, that whatever others bear, it is not fit for him to bear it. It is but reason that such a man should make men, who will presume to cross him, to yield to him, to stoop under him. Now when one proud man thinks it a dishonor to him to put up with wrongs from another, who it may be is as proud as himself, and he thinks it a dishonor to put up with wrongs, what peace can their be? Some wrongs must be put up with, but proud men will never agree who shall begin.

PRIDE makes men swell beyond their bounds. The way to keep all things in union is for every man to keep within his bounds. The swelling beyond tends to the breaking all in pieces. “He is a proud man, neither keeps at home, who enlarges his desire as hell, and cannot be satisfied” (Habbakuk 2.5). If any humor of the body goes beyond its bounds, it brings much trouble to it. The health and peace of the body consists in the keeping of aevery humor within its vessel in due proportion.

PRIDE hardens men’s hearts. “His mind is hardened in his pride” (Daniel 5.10). If you would have things cleave, you must have them soft. “Two flints will not join,” the Spaniard have a proverb. Lime and stone will make a wall. If one be hard, yet if the other be yielding, there may be joining, and good may be done, not else.

PRIDE causes men to despise the persons, actions, and sufferings of others. And nothing is more insufferable to a man’s spirit than to be vilified. A proud man despises what others do, and others what he does. Every man, next to his person, desires the honor of his actions. If these two be held in contempt, his sufferings will likewise be held in contempt by the proud. This also goes very near to a man: One man thinks what another man suffers is nothing, no matter what becomes of him. Another thinks his sufferings nothing, and no matter what becomes of him. O at what a distance now are men’s hearts one from another!

PRIDE causes every man to desire to be taken notice of, to have an eminence in some thing or another; if he cannot be eminent on one side, he will get to the other; he must be taken notice of, one way or other; when he is in a good and peaceable way, God makes use of him. Yet because he is not observed and looked upon as eminent, he will rather turn to some other way, to contend, strive, to oppose, or anything, that he may be taken notice of, to be somebody, that he may not go out of the world without some noise. “What shall such a man as I, of such parts, such approved abilities, so endued by God to do some eminent service, be laid aside and nobody regard me? I must set upon some notable workd, something that may draw the eye of observance upon me!” I have read of a young man who set Diana’s temple on fire, and being asked the reason, he said, “That he migh have a name that the people might talk of him.” Because he could not be famous for doing good, he would for doing evil. Proud spirits will venture the setting the timle of God–yea, church and state–on fire, that they may have a name. Whatever they do or suffer to get a name, they will rather venture than die in obscurity: that above all things they cannot bear.

A proud man makes his will the rule of his actions, and would have it be the rule of other men’s too. And other men, being proud, would have their wills the rule of their actions, and of his too. Thus the blustering wind of PRIDE in men’s hearts causes them to jostle one against another, and so to split themselves upon another–as when ships lie together, a violent wind breaking their anchor cables causes them to dash one upon another, and so to make shipwreck even in the haven.

Proud men will venture upon things unseemly; thinking their esteem and greatness will bear them out; and others who are proud will venture upon the like, upon the same ground. For every man is ready to high thoughts of himself. “Deliver me from presumptious sins” (Psalms 19.14): a superbis, so some ab insolentibus, so others, from proud, from insolent sins.

If there is anything to be done that is conceived to be mean and low, a proud man will strive to put it upon others, and others who are proud, will strive to put it upon him. And if it be a work of credit, then he seeks it to himself, and others seek it to themselves, and hence are jarrings and divisions.

One proud man thinks himself the only worthy man to have his counsel followed and his desires satisfied, and the other thinks himself the man that should have his counsel followed and his desires satisfied; and thus men struggle and oppose one another.

Here we see what a make bate PRIDE is. That which Tertullus said to Felix (Acts 24.2) is true humility: “By you we enjoy great quietness.” But the contrary is true of pride: “By you are made woeful divisions; by you we suffer miserable disturbances.” Though there be no occasion of querrel, yet pride will make some. Only by pride comes contention (as before: Proverbs 13.10).

Now let every man look into his own heart and see what pride has been, and still is, there; and be humbled befor the Lord for this. All you contentious, froward, quarrelsome people, you are charged this day from God with being men and women of proud spirits, and what evil there is in our sad divisions, that pride in your bosom is a great cause of it. St. Paul “did keep under his body, lest after he had preached to others, he should become a castaway,” or a reprobate. Let us all look to it, and especially ministers, lest after all our profession and glorious shows, we at last become reprobates, at least such as God may cast out for destruction, even in this world, taking no delight in make use of; what, in such times as these to have hearts swollen and lifted up with pride? God is now about staying the pride of the earth. How unseasonable and dangerous for a mariner to have his topsails up, and all spread in a violent storm. It is time then to pull down all, lest he sink irrevocably. The point of a needle will let the wind out of a bladder, and shall not the swords of God, the swords of war and plague, that have got so deep into our bowels, let out the windy pride of our hearts? “The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down and the Lord himself will be exalted.” The Lord humbles us that he may reconcile us, not only to himself, but to one another.

(Note: I stole some of this from a sermon I posted two years ago.)

Prophets are popularly thought of as people who “know” things to tell others, typically things about the future.  In a Christian context, they are understood to receive messages from God via supernatural revelation.

While Prophets often do reveal messages about the future from God, there is data that shows us that communication in the opposite direction is equally part of their task and definition.  Thus, God says to Abimelech, “Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live” (Genesis 20.7a).  There are couple of other passages that are interesting but not as persuasive on their own: Jeremiah 37.3; 42.2-4.  But one will note that the prophets, in the midst of their receptions of messages, also record their own prayers as part of the prophetic documents.

Abraham led his family in worship and offered sacrifices, so why didn’t God tell Abimelech that Abraham was a priest who could pray for him?  Why is praying for another person associated with the office of prophet?

The issue, I think, is access.  God tells Jeremiah what makes a good prophet:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
Behold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.”

Prophets have access to God’s council.  This brings us back to Abraham who, as a prophet, did not simply receive information about the future, but also was, in that same instance, called upon to interced for Lot and thus for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18.16-33).

I think this point about prophets is related to the term “saint,” which is used over and over again to describe Christians and as a name for them.

The easiest thing to do is to say that a saint is a “holy one” and just assume we all know what holiness is and let it go at that. I don’t think that really explains anything to us. Yes, a saint is a Latin derivative that translates the Hebrew and Greek terms for “holy one.” But what does that mean?

The first time we find the word holy used as a noun it is used in Exodus 3.5 when Moses meets God in the burning bush. God tells him to remove his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. Normally the ground is cursed because of sin but when God draws near his presence makes the cursed ground holy so that it is an insult to wear shoes as if one needed protection from it.

So that’s one story. God drew near to a particular place at a particular time and that meant that the ground that he touched down upon was holy and had to be treated accordingly.

Another story is the story of Passover with the resulting law set down for Israel in Exodus 13.3 that every first born animal was to be “sanctified”—made holy. How does one sanctify a firstborn? Well in the case of an animal that is acceptable on the altar, sanctifying the firstborn meant bringing it to the central sanctuary and offering it up into God’s presence from the sanctuary altar.

That leads us to another story, the story of when God came down on Mount Sinai, once again that piece of geography had to be treated as “holy”—as special due to God’s special presence there. On that Mountain, God instructed the Israelites to build him a tent in which to live. That tent had different sections: the outer section was called “the holy place” and the interior section where God’s footstool dwelt was called “the holy of holies.” And that whole structure, that Tabernacle, was known as God’s “holiness” or “holy thing” or “holy place.” But it is translated the first time it is mentioned in Exodus 25.8 this way: “And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.” Sanctuary, like saint, is an English terms we have derived from our Latin roots. Santus—“holy”—is the root of both saint and sanctuary, holy one and holy place.

In fact, it is in remembering Sinai that we first have a reference to people as “holy ones” or saints. Moses gives a blessing that recounts what happened:

The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; [angels]
At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.
Indeed, He loves the people;
All Your holy ones are in Your hand,
And they followed in Your steps;
Everyone receives of Your words.
Moses charged us with a law,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob [33.2-4].

When God is enthroned at Sinai, it is appropriate to refer to his angels as “holy ones”; and when at the same time God is enthroned among his people, it is appropriate to refer to them as “holy ones,” saints, as well.

We typically think of holiness as a certain kind of moral quality. Someone is holy if he is righteous or godly. That’s true but it is a secondary development.

The primary meaning of holy is simply near to God’s special presence (in the case of God Himself holiness probably refers to His own independent integrity which also reminds us of his transcendence and separation from creation). Some things come near to God and they have no business being there so God expels them by destroying them or banishing them. They are not holy and therefore may not get that close. Other things belong near to God so that they can be called holy even if they are separated from God’s presence—they are meant to be brought to Him. The idea there is that they shouldn’t be so separated.

Related to this concept of holiness is the fact that those who are brought near to God need to behave in a way that is appropriate for being in God’s presence. But the moral quality is secondary.

So saints are saints because they have been given access to God’s sanctuary. Saints have sanctuary privileges. They belong in God’s presence and are part of his inner sanctum. The fact that both words in English come from the same Latin word is actually convenient. Remember the meaning of the word saint by hearing the first syllable of the word sanctuary.

The sanctuary, remember, is where God is enthroned. Beyond the holy place in the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant overshadowed by two golden Cherubim. The Bible declares that God was enthroned above those Cherubim so that the Ark was his footstool (First Chronicles 28.2; Psalm 99.5; 132.7). As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 98—a Psalm all about God’s ruler over the world from his throne—“Holiness befits your house, O LORD.”

This is the legal position of all Christians. We are all given authorized access to God’s throne room. Saints have sanctuary access. We are part of God’s inner court.

We thus, have access to the council of the LORD.  We are there like the true prophets of old.  We are near.  We are prophets.  We are saints.