Brian McLaren is so bold to indulge God’s patience and to presume upon His mercy as he maligns the “apple of His eye” Zech 2:8 “For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he hath sent me to the nations that have robbed you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye:”

Brian praises Greg Barrett for stomping on Israel, and is then encouraged to write a series of supporting articles on the same subject, so stay tuned.

Greg Barrett tells the inconvenient truth … on Israel and Palestine

Brian McLaren…

I’m working on an important series of posts on the subject … hopefully they’ll be ready to share in the next week or two.

It is beyond me how anyone with half a brain could sit and listen to men like Perry Noble, Mark Driscoll, Rick Warren, or a hundred others in their blood line and not pickup on their falsehood. The only answer is “Strong Delusion.”

We read in Scripture of the strong drink that the nation will be made to drink of, and the drunken state that will be the result. “A second angel followed and said, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.’” What we began to experience in the circus church was a spectacle, and still is, but it has moved on to an intoxicated fisticuff.

I have followed loosely Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries and Christian Research Net, and Lighthouse Trails documenting of Perry Noble at New Spring Church in Anderson S.C., but have never commented, till now. After reading about the account of the leadership at New Spring, going way over the line, in their attack of James Duncan for his critique of Perry Noble, and Perry’s strong arm response of intimidation, a word of warning is overdue from this site.

In an interview with Chris Rosebrough of Fighting for the Faith Radio, James Duncan, a Professor at Anderson University advises all believers to start a discernment blog to warn of the imminent danger that is at hand; this is good advise. The interview, “Perry Noble’s Employees Assassinate the Character of a Critic,” needs to be listened to. Perry is a growing influence in the Seeker Sensitive, Mega Church movement and is charting the course for many market driven Churches. This man brings violence one step closer to the elimination of all Bible believing Christians, and he gets support for his deeds.

Also, on James Duncan’s own blog, Pajama Pages, James documents, in detail, how  these so called followers of Christ, tried to destroy him for openly criticizing Perry Noble.

Perry Noble, like Mark Driscoll, preachs a very worldly and flesh oriented message, and by so doing gather to themselves large followings of those who gravitate to the base nature of man, rather than to the Cross, where the flesh and the world are put away. Perry openly feeds his congregation the filth of the world, then tries to intimidate, by his crude rashness, anyone who would dare disagree with him.

This is the trend of Church Growth today, the blind leading the blind into accepting a false, flesh gratifying, Im O.K., You’re O.K. as long as you don’t take the Bible too serious, kind of Gospel.

Perry Noble, Mark Driscoll, and Rick Warren are the worst of the worst, but there are many others who exist on the fringes of their teachings and who have not ventured out of the closets yet, but they will come. They exist up and down Main Street, in your town and across the Nation, and have listened to these men and rehearsed their methods in their own Churches, and envy their success, and secretly desire their fame for themselves. They live and play on the edge of a dangerous cliff and promote the teaching of these men as if it were their own, and encourage their flock to graze ever closer to the edge, all the while saying it is good and healthy for their soul; Peace, Peace, but there is no Peace sayeth the Lord.

These men never blush for their wickedness, but encourage others to celebrate this new kind of freedom. The freedom they celebrate is freedom from the narrow way; it is freedom from the Cross, which is freedom from Christ.

Hag 2:12-14

“If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?”‘” Then the priests answered and said, “No.” And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” Then Haggai answered and said, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord , ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.”

These verses speak loudly to a nation caught in its sin, and it speaks loudly to these American Churches. Where did the mentality come from that says, that if we put a Christian in the midst of the world we can make it holy; that by a Christian presence we can spread holiness? Where did the mentality come from that says that a Christian can maintain their purity when simultaneously mingling with impurity? Who said that we could keep an open relationship with the world and come away unscathed? It is a lie, it cannot be done.

Haggai here declares the same; it cannot be done. The pure person cannot by being with impurity and mixing with them impart his purity to them. But, to the contrary, if a holy person touches an unclean thing the holy person becomes unclean. To say it plainly: corruption and sin are more easily transferred to the righteous than righteousness transferred to the unrighteous. So the rule seems to be plain enough. Don’t think that an evil person living in the midst of goodness will commend that goodness to the evil person. The Spirit has declared that it is not so, but this is exactly what we see, routinely, in the institutional Church. We advertise, we promote, we poll neighborhoods, we beg and we plead that the world would please come and be a part of us, and they have, and we have become corrupted and unclean, deluded, because we now see as the world sees, and we see that the world’s ways and means have great promise for the Church. We have become an unclean thing and we don’t know how to repent, so the Lord will come to us in our darkest hour, and we will see our nakedness and be ashamed.

Repentance and shame is not in the vocabulary of these men, they exalt there shame and draw ovations from their flatterers.

As we watch the world tumble and turn, and the organized church slip into apostasy, words start taking on new value, meaning, and understanding, both for the worldly Christian and for those enlightened souls who recognize the fulfillment of end time prophecy. We have witnessed, in our generation, the grand sermons of talented preachers, with their endless chatter, flowing like a fermented mash, to inebriated crowds, bellying up to the bar for a round of worldly religion, and seen them stumble home, and still manage to confess, in the face of their sin, their creedal and national allegiance, then fall for the umpteenth time while convinced, by their pastor, that they can live in the world and not be of it. They are not only in the world, they are awash in it; it covers them; they have become to the “world,” just, the “religious world,” no different than those outside, just more cocksure that’s all.

The words of Scripture are very clear today.

2 Cor 6:14-7:1

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Steve Blackwell

I’m curious, how many declarations, proclamations, manifestos, creeds, and statements of faith does it take to turn a ruthlessly vain and evil race of people into moral, dignified, and respectable human beings. The answer to that question is, there is not enough paper to print all the decrees necessary to save us?

Let’s look for a moment at the Jews. Was it possible to sacrifice enough bulls and goats to satisfy God’s just requirement of righteousness and purity? The river of blood and the mountain of dead flesh over thousands of years was not adequate. All of their efforts were futile, and they were driven to despair. They wearied themselves with their work. It just was not the answer.

The Manhattan Declaration is just another effort of proud man to accomplish something that only God alone can do. But, man never tires of trying to produce something that will produce the results that God demands.

The gates of Hell are prevailing all over the world, in the face of so many beautifully written documents proclaiming that men will do what God obviously can not do Himself.

The organized church is a failure in the life changing business, but they just will not see it, because they are proud, and they are blind.

“When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Prov. 16:7

America and the world have failed, because they will not concede to Jesus, nor will they repent of all their efforts to build something that God said that He Himself would build, and that all of men’s efforts to do otherwise are to “build in vain.”

With all the failure we see piling up so rapidly, would it be a fair assessment to conclude that our ways do not please the Lord? Yes! That is the Biblical assessment.

Would it be a stretch to say that we have no idea what we are doing? or even what “faith” is? We say we trust God then we set out to do things our own way. That is somewhat reminiscent of the Book of Judges where “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Maybe Jesus’ question of “will I find faith on the earth when I return” is beginning to make a little sense to a few of “simple” folk amongst us. His declaration that the way is very narrow, and that only a few will walk in it, will take on new meaning to some, as in “not very many will be saved” or that it will be only “a remnant” that escapes, or it will be like a shepherd who takes out of the mouth of a lion rib, or part of a leg.

Would it be a fantasy to venture into the realm of trust, that says that “faith” really is letting God be God, and doing what we have proven we can not, and doing what He said He would do, if we would just give up trying, and just rest on Him? What a novel idea, since this is what He has asked us to do in the first place. But, and there is always a “but” in the way. The “but” is this matter of pride of “doing” and “building” and “accomplishing” something for God.

Maybe, just maybe, since we can conclude that God is not pleased, is it possible that we have been “building” the wrong way, using our own blueprints, declarations, creeds, statements of faith, and marketing devices, instead of letting Jesus do it? Do we not understand what Jesus said, He said, “I will build My Church.”

When I read the “Manhattan Declaration” my conclusion is that these men are way too smart for their own good, or ours.

The trouble with men, trying to be God, is that they all have agendas, they’re all diverse, not united. they all see things differently, and therefore wrong, not as God sees. Only God can do it right, so let Him, this is real repentance. Admit the failure, their own failure, my failure, your failure, and just repent.

I believe that, for most people, the “thank you “ part of Thanksgiving is the most boring part. It has been relegated to mere ritual, where the most religious person is given the task of “saying the blessing,” and of course, including the words “thank you.” Little thought is given to whom we are giving thanks, or why, it is just one more hurdle that has to be cleared so that the next stage can begin.

Thanksgiving, like so many other events and holidays, has lost its significance with the passage of time. The bounty that America has produced was originally attributed to the providence of God, but today you rarely hear the word. The idea that there really is someone providing the things we take for granted is becoming more and more fantastic and illogical. And, for those of us who still believe in Providence, our degree of true faith is inspiring fewer and fewer these days.

During this time of year I reflect that our country was founded and built upon the knowledge and fear of God and His Word.

“On April 10, 1606 King James I granted the first charter of Virginia to the Jamestown colonists.”

“The following is how the charter opened up, giving the instructions for the Virginia Colony…”

“We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…”

There is a growing number in our nation today who reject the fact that this nation was founded on His prescripts given to us and discovered in the volume of His Word.

“Benjamin Franklin stated the following at the Constitutional Convention of 1787…”

“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:7,
“When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

Today we are surrounded by enemies who have no fear of us, and again the question is, to whom are we giving thanks, and why?

“On reflecting where we are today, I present these words from the past, from Governor Samuel Johnston.”

“It is apprehended that Jews, Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected to high offices under the government of the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President or other high office, [unless] first the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves.”

[Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788 at the North Carolina Ratifying Convention]

“We are a nation founded upon the principals of God Almighty. It is His Word, the Bible that has helped govern the direction this nation would go. But fast forward to today, we no longer heed God’s Word.”

I give thanks that there still is a spark of liberty and love for The God of Heaven and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are a few of us still who uphold the principals upon which this nation was founded. We do not forget that this nation has been blessed by God and God alone. But, do we not see those blessings disappearing before our very eyes. Can we conclude that God is not pleased? Yes, that is the Biblical conclusion.

That spark of liberty may be the spark that ignites the furnace of adversity in which the spirit of grace and thankfulness is proven.

God is the God of all our provisions, and He alone knows what we need. One of the greatest things Jesus said, is when He claimed equality with the Father by saying, “Before Abraham was, I Am.” If He merely wanted to establish His pre-existence He could have said “before Abraham was, I was.” Jesus is taking great liberty with that statement, and in it we go back to that day when Moses talked with God in the burning bush, and asked what name he should give the God who was sending him to the children of Israel. God told him to tell them that “I Am” has sent you unto them. Without getting into a detailed examination of God’s many names it is easy to see that the name “I Am” is an incomplete sentence, it has no subject, why? Jehovah (I Am) purposely left that sentence incomplete so that we could fill it in with what ever need we happen to have at the time. Jesus was reminding these Jews of God’s ability to fill every need that could arise, and that He himself is the fulfillment of our deepest desires and needs. Do you need strength, I Am your strength. Do you need healing, I Am your healer. Do you need provisions, I Am your provider. I Am_____________, you fill in the blank. But, today we just don’t get it. Jesus is still everything we need if we can unravel the riddle.

Whether we are abased, or whether we abound, Jesus still provides for our every need, and it is for this we give thanks. The Providence of God was at work in the founding of this Nation, and it is the Providence of God that is at work in its failure, if we refuse to understand to Whom we give thanks, and Why?.

If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation,

-A.W. Tozer

It is a perfectly obvious fact that wherever the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ has been most faithfully preached and presented – while bringing hope and new life to many – it has almost invariably been the cause of trouble.

Wherever it has gone it has aroused antagonism. As it was a stumbling-block to the Jews and an absurdity to the Greeks in the first days, so, ever since, it has been unacceptable, not only to the men of the world as such, but to the religious communities also. This we unhesitatingly affirm to be as true today as ever, in spite of the fact that it is the most popular symbol in the world. There is hardly a city in Christendom where the architecture, galleries of art, collections of literature and conservatoires of music and religious institutions do not declare to the world a certain regard and honour for this sacred sign.

This may be a tribute to something deeper but it is that deeper thing which is absolutely unacceptable to the greater part of Christendom and the world.

It is found necessary even in certain phases of some missionary enterprise today to eliminate from the text-books and hymn books the mention of the Cross lest it offend.

Much of the preaching and teaching in the Christian Church is either confined to the “Historic Jesus”, which presents a Crossless Christ, or gives a very modified meaning to His death. And yet it is surely necessary to get rid of the Bible before we can get rid of the fact that it unites in all its parts to declare that the Cross is God’s Way of salvation, God’s sufficient and God’s only way.

It is, further, surely very clear that the Cross has proved to be the means upon which God has made to rest the full weight of His mighty saving power. It was dominant in New Testament days. The recovery of, or re-emphasis upon some vital and essential phase of that Cross gave rise to such movements as are signified by the names of Luther, Moody, Finney, Jonathan Edwards, Whitfield, the Wesleys, Spurgeon and many other especially God-honoured men.

Now we ask why has the Cross always been such a maker of trouble and such a cause of offence? And why is it that it is today behind much of the upheaval even in many of our professedly evangelical institutions and denominations, Christian homes, local churches and individual Christian lives?

This we will seek to answer, but first let us discriminate. It is not the heroics of the Cross or the aesthetics that cause the trouble. Sacrifice, suffering, unselfish devotion, self-effacing service for the good of others, enduring the penalty of setting oneself against the evil current of the times, etc.; these are romantic elements and are seized upon as the themes by which multitudes are captured and captivated. It is the deeper meaning which the Bible gives to the Cross which causes the aggravation, this can be seen in one or two clearly defined applications.

1. The Cross condemns the world.

In His Cross Christ created a great divide between the old world and the new, a divide which cannot be bridged. Two distinctly different systems, scales of value, standards of judgment, sets of laws, prevail on the two sides of the Cross, the system of each is not only entirely different, but irreconcilable and forever antagonistic to the other.

The Cross demands an absolute distinctiveness of interests and objectives, relationships and resources. It draws the final distinction between the saved and the unsaved, between the living and the dead.

The apostle Paul said that by the Cross he had “been crucified to the world” and the world crucified to him. The Word of God emphatically declares that the age is evil and that “the whole world lieth in the wicked one” and that its ways, motives, purposes, ideas and imaginations are all the opposite of God’s and that it is utterly incapacitated from either receiving the revelation of the divine mind, growing of itself into the divine image, enjoying and appreciating real fellowship with God, or being entrusted with the privilege of co-operation with God.

These are alone the consciousness, capacities, relationships of the newly-born or regenerated soul. It is this verdict, condemnation, and demand of the Cross which is unacceptable and irritating to a very great number of professing Christians. Further, it is the presence of much that is called “worldliness” both in the individual Christian life and in the Church which absolutely neutralises their effectiveness in the realisation of the essential purposes of the Cross.

2. The Cross crucifies the flesh.

By it the Word of God declares that “our old man has been crucified with Christ” (Romans 6:6). “One died for all, therefore all died in Him, that they which live should henceforth live no longer unto themselves, but unto him” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We have tried to bring some of the old creation life into the new creation and God won’t have it. The history of the fallen race was concluded so far as God was concerned at Calvary. From that time onward, God’s entire concern was the new creation, but alike our human capabilities as well as our infirmities; what we call our better side as our worse; our goodness and our badness have been included in that death. Henceforth we are called to live not on a human level but on a divine. Humanly we possess nothing which is acceptable to God.

It is always the assertion of some human element, some like or dislike, some fad or fancy, some ambition or some personal interest, which paralyses the real spiritual work of God. To regard not only our sins but ourselves as having been taken to the Cross by Christ is the only way by which those purposes of God can be wrought out through our lives. It is strange that while we ourselves are the bane of our own existence, the trouble of our own lives, we are so slow to accept our crucification with Christ, to have the Cross wrought out to our death in order that the life of Christ might be made manifest in us. Herein lies the offence of the Cross, not only for the worldling but also for the Christian.

3. The Cross casts out the devil.

Here we touch, perhaps, the deepest cause of the offence, for the world and the flesh are only the instruments and weapons by which the great hierarchy of Satan maintains its hold and its existence as the controlling force. Christ said as He approached the Cross, “Now is the prince of this world cast out” (John 12:31). Paul reflecting upon that Cross said that by it: “Christ stripped off principalities and powers, making a show of them openly, and triumphed over them” (Colossians 2:15).

It is perfectly natural, then, that the great hierarchy of evil should by every means and resource seek to make the Cross of none effect. By the “pale cast of thought” it will dilute the message of the Cross; by pushing in the world’s methods, its means, its spirit, it will sap the spiritual vitality of the Church; by stirring up the flesh, the self and the old Adam it will cause schism, strain and disintegration; or by making much of the human element in its artistic, aesthetic, heroic, humanitarian side, it will be blind to the need of regeneration. Reputation, popularity, bigness, the world standard of success, are all contrary to the spirit of Christ, but they are the toys with which the enemy engrosses the minds of many, even Christian ministers.

If, therefore, the Cross is preached in the full victory over and emancipation from the world, the flesh and the devil, it is to be expected that by hook or by crook the intelligent forces of evil will leave no stone unturned to stop it, and will stir up every cause of offence to lay to the account of the Cross.

In conclusion let us not forget that the enjoyment of the full life of God, the experience of victory, and executive co-operation with Him that sitteth upon the throne in the sure realisation that His eternal purposes are ours just in so far as we are one with the full and essential meaning of the Cross as set forth in the Word of God. “I have been crucified with Christ, henceforth… no longer I but Christ.” “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they counted not their lives dear unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).

There has been a lot of discussion and debate on the blogs I have visited lately, and no little heat generated, on both sides of the issue of baptismal regeneration. But, one thing that is obviously missing is the spiritual perspective and meaning of baptism.

Baptism is one of those topics that men love to argue about, but never come to a settled agreement on. The career of men on the face of the earth dictates that he win, by argument, or by force a rational and true definition of what God means in His Holy Scriptures, and I cannot exclude myself. It matters not a tittle that that same Holy Scripture says that God cannot be known that way, the arguments persist. Men of the flesh do what men of the flesh do: they jostle for position and pummel their opponents, so that they can secure for themselves that cherished place of peace and rest, but it is only in their minds; it is a restless rest that robs them of their peace, as long as there is conflict. Men love puzzles and mysteries also, and to decode or piece together the mystery of Godliness is the ultimate prize.

Men have never tired of asking “what must I do to be saved?” and they cherish the idea that they have discovered just what it is they must do, more than they cherish God’s free gift. But, the question is nonetheless valid, and the answer is very much related to baptism. Does baptism save us? The Bible says so. Baptism does save us, but it is not sprinkling, dipping, or dunking. We must confess, if we think that there is something that we can add to the finished work of Christ, that we are in error. Our salvation has absolutely nothing to do with anything that we can think, do, or manufacture, by way of the flesh, and Scripture make this abundantly clear. If the Bible says that “baptism saves us” we must not jump to the conclusion, that we participate in any way, in the work that only Christ could do. We must then admit that there is yet another greater, deeper, application of God’s word that is yet unrevealed to us. The flesh, in any capacity, is useless as a means of achieving God’s pardon. Likewise, baptism contributes nothing in our ability to achieve holiness, or to attain understanding. If we do not confess and believe that we have no part in our salvation, then we are deceived, deluded, and damned. If we fail to grasp the spiritual significance of baptism, we have simply, FAILED, for the significance is that it does save us, if we can comprehend that significance. It is that sign that we have died. My father is dead, and if at times I want to believe that he still lives, I only have to return to the graveyard and look at the tombstone to be brought back to my senses. That stone reminds me of the day that my father died. He is dead, and I am dead, and my baptism in water stands as my reminder, that I am really dead to this world’s enticements, when I become disillusioned by that same world and flesh.

There is a principle here that is not just for the New Testament. That principle stands as a monument in the lives of all those who have experienced spiritual life, going all the way back to Able. Also, baptism means nothing apart from the “cross.” The principle of the cross and the principle of baptism are inseparably linked “in Christ” and understood only in His act on Calvary. All of Scripture, from beginning to end, is an exposition of these two principles, for living life in the “good land.” Without a spiritual understanding of these, there is no “new birth.” There is no supernatural life, there is no deliverance, there is no “taking the Land,” there is no answer to Jabaz’s prayer of expanded boundaries, there is no chapter eleven of the book of Hebrews, there is no killing of Goliath, and there is no Christian life. What I am trying to communicate is that there is no life without death, and there is no new life without resurrection, and there is neither without the separation or crisis distinguished by baptism, which is our burial or immersion into the death of Jesus. Does baptism save us? You bet, as does the cross, because they are of the same stuff, the same fabric, both cut from the same piece of Spiritual material. Death and burial, if they are real, cannot be separated. We may choose to hide the body of a loved one in some secret place, a closet, then have a memorial service and say many good things about the person and return home to adorn the dead body. How long can this go on undetected? It won’t be long before our lie becomes apparent. Dead bodies must be buried. “A seed of corn must fall to the ground and die, or it remains alone.” Death, real death, is the key that unlocks the door to the “good land.” It is finding ourselves, reckoning ourselves, dead with Christ, daily, continually, always dying to life in this world, and then submitting ourselves for burial, as it were, to all that this world has to offer. “There is nothing in this world that I desire,” Christ has become my all-in-all, He is the very breath of the new life I live. “Know you not that you have died with Christ. How can you then live anymore in this world?” Being baptized is being immersed in all that Christ is and means, and that is salvation, is it not? And if we are not baptized in Christ then we have not the life of Christ.

The Way of Freedom

“I have come to cast a fire on the earth; and I wish that it was already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I constrained until it shall be accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50)

“But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38)

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3)

Here we have a few verses that are not normally considered in the discussion about baptism. I suppose the question is whether or not these verses are to be regarded when we discuss church order, liturgy, or rites. Many would say that there is no connection between what is being said here and the command to be baptized, like Acts 2:38 and others, but are they correct? Wouldn’t you agree that it is necessary to understand what Jesus and Paul and Peter are talking about before we move out into the water and turn something glorious into a mere church ordinance, form, or sacrament?

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth…,” was the result of Jesus’ resurrection, and is one of the purposes of His coming in the first place. What was that fire? It was that thing that turned the world upside down. It was the heat generated by the withdrawal of many from this world’s system of doing things. It was the nonconformity of born twice saints submersing themselves in the New Order of the Spirit, which caused the spontaneous combustion of such things that were found to consist of “wood, hay, and stubble.” It is the apparent differentiating of what is of this world, including its religious organizations, from what is of Christ. The blazing of the Spirit, in the people of God, through the parched fields of this planet cannot prevent combustion. The fire that Jesus cast on the earth spread rapidly, and burns to this very day, whenever the Spirit is released. When the Spirit of God comes in contact with the spirit of this world a fire is sure to erupt, and it is fair to say, that where there is no fire, there is no Spirit. The inability to cause a fire should be of grave concern to those who profess to be Christian. The Spirit filled Christian does not have to go looking for kindling, it is all around them, just like the darkness, it is everywhere, the light is simply “light.”

But, “the light” is related to these individuals in a special way, death and resurrection. In this last sentence is the answer to the baptism of which Jesus was constrained to perform. In the previous verses of Luke 12 Jesus is looking at this crowd of followers and no doubt grieves as He gives advise about not being greedy, and worrying about food, and clothing, and the cares of this life. Then He breaks out at verse 49 about His purpose of burning things down, division, and baptism. “What are you saying Lord, what are you talking about,” you can almost hear His followers saying. Those people were in a hopeless position, and Jesus knew it, and with the prospect of His Passion just up ahead He was distressed, and He longed to have it past. The solution that those followers needed was locked away in that cross. In that passion was the “freedom” they needed to be free to understand what He had just told them. His baptism, and their baptism loomed heavy on the horizon, and it meant death for them all, the only way to life.

“But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38)

This baptism of which He speaks is forever linked to the cross. It is the way, and the only way, but it divides and separates. It is a question of being delivered out of “the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:12,13). “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,” (1 Cor. 15:50). It matters not how well we perform our ceremonies of baptism, or how much we improve the flesh, or how culturally relevant we become, it is still the flesh, and flesh is flesh. Are you beginning to understand what Jesus is saying? Water baptism means nothing apart from Spirit life. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal,” (John 12:24-25). We have our share in His cross, to “…fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:” (Colossians 1:24). Does this sound like freedom? I suspect that it does not to many, but this is the way of the cross, and of life, and of freedom.

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3)

There is so much more that could be said, but let me make some final points. Paul here is talking to all those who say that “baptism saves you.” Don’t you realize that it is about death, Christ’s death, and that we must make it our own. “Know ye not” that you have the curse of death on you, and that you will cross one threshold or the other, into life eternal, or into forever death? The tremendous power gained through Jesus’ baptism into death is equal to the immensity of the thing done on the cross. The effect of the cross in our lives should be commensurate with that.

Well, what have we finally come to in all of this, a better ceremony, a prettier certificate, a solemn event, or the understanding that we have to enter into a new understanding of the cross, the resurrection, and the burial of our Lord, Jesus? The cross is not just the preliminary event in our Christian life, “where we first saw the light;” that is but the threshold, the beginning. It is not here meant to deprive us of some worldly pleasures. It is not the thousand pound weight that crushes us. It is the way of freedom and life, no less than it was for Joshua, or Moses, or Paul, or Peter, or any of the saints of old, and we, as was our Lord, should be “constrained” till the freshness of this baptism is accomplished in us.

There is an old world and there is a new world, and in between the two there is a tomb. “I have been crucified with Christ,” but my burial is by consent. Our loved one may die and we may choose to believe that they are alive, and not bury them. It is only when we are convinced that they are, indeed, dead, that we commit them to the grave. My baptism confirms my death, and no memorial service will do, while I stash the body in the closet; our sins will find us out. We must die, and we must be buried. My baptism is my confirmation that I have been cut off from this world and a citizen of another world. Everything that is of the flesh, of this world, must die, all my talents and attributes, all my desires and longings, and all my selfishness and vanity, all my entertainment and gluttony, it is all of this flesh and world, and has been rejected by God, and must die. Only what is of faith and trust in Jesus will survive. Most new Christians come across the threshold pulling a wagon with all their flesh in tow. Their great desires to now use their talents to build something for God must be put on the altar along with their very “self,” then God will be heard to say that it is accepted, and the aroma sweet.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Romans 6:5-7)

Steve Blackwell

]]> http://www.indywatchman.com/2009/02/15/baptism-a-spiritual-perspective/feed/ 7 http://www.indywatchman.com/2009/01/05/christian-hatred-getting-worse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=christian-hatred-getting-worse http://www.indywatchman.com/2009/01/05/christian-hatred-getting-worse/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:50:27 +0000 indywatchman http://www.indywatchman.com/?p=293 Today I saw a bumper sticker that read “So Many Christians, So Few Lions.” I had pulled into a McDonald’s for lunch and happened to come along side a nice looking Mercedes automobile with this sticker on the bumper, so I pulled in beside it. I decided to wait for a few minutes to see if the driver would return. I wanted to ask him if he really felt that much hatred for Christians that he could actually kill them. After a little while I decided I could not wait any longer and went into the restaurant for lunch. I looked around at the crowd to see if I could pick out the person who had such disgust with followers of Jesus, but I was way off. As people left I kept looking over my shoulder to see who might own the car. I discounted the young people and the blue collar crowd, but saw several women and men who might fit the bill. A couple ladies left, but they didn’t own the car. Then a middle aged man, wearing what looked like a surgeons outfit, complete with a head scarf displaying some NFL logo, headed in that direction. I had not suspected him because the outfit he wore projected a different message, a message of trust and healing and care; boy was I fooled.

How many times have we put our trust in individuals who, if they knew we were Christians, would gladly feed us to the lions. Many today are proud of their anti-Christian associations and even promote their anger and hatred over the internet and with placards, and billboards, and bumper stickers, even in Indiana. Some day that hatred will reach a fever pitch, and Jews and Christians will become like varmints, to be destroyed. It may be hard to believe, but it is true, and it may be sooner than we think; are you ready!

Steve Blackwell