Christian Living

Every day last week I opened up the browser tab to write my weekly newsletter to you all. Then I sat and stared at it. I wanted to write, but all I could come up with was a torrent of angry words. Over the years of blogging I’ve learned that I don’t want to write when I’m angry and so every day I closed up the tab and didn’t write anything.

The past two weeks I’ve vacillated between righteous anger and an overwhelming sense of something akin to despair. I say akin to despair because as a Christian who believes in God’s goodness and God’s sovereignty, I have no personal reason to despair. But the evil that has clearly manifested itself in every part of the world right now including churches, government, schools, etc. reached a point where I found it overwhelming.

Overwhelming because I see sheep being led to slaughter. I see people completely unaware of what is going on around them. I hear people parroting words that are blatantly false, but they don’t know they are false because the truth is systematically and ruthlessly hidden from them. It is enough to drive someone who understands what is going on and sees it for what it is, completely mad. To see the lies spread everywhere. To see the truth censored and deleted.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Psalm 42:5 ESV

As I was struggling with what to do as the new week approached, someone shared this on Gab.

As you examine yourself before you go to bed, you do not just ask yourself if you have committed murder or adultery; or whether you have been guilty of this or that, and if you have not, thank God that all is well. No. You ask yourself rather, ‘Has God been supreme in my life today? Have I lived to the glory and the honor of God? Do I know Him better? Have I a zeal for His honor and glory? Has there been anything in me that has been unlike Christ–thoughts, imaginations, desires, impulses?’ That is the way. In other words, you examine yourself in the light of a living Person and not merely in terms of a mechanical code of rules and regulations.

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

It was the reminder I needed yesterday of who I serve and who I answer to. Yes, I already knew it. But I had become so concerned about offending people, turning people off, etc. that I was afraid to speak the truth. I had become more concerned with “not giving people what they want” when they come here, that I wasn’t considering that God might call me to write hard words here sometimes. Righteous anger might be what God is asking me to write and, if so, I have to write it. I don’t just have to write it. I want to write it. I’m called to be faithful with this opportunity to write online.

We each live our lives to an audience of one. The only approval we need to seek is the approval of our Lord.

Have I lived my life today in a way that pleases Him? Have I shared the truth with those who need to hear it? Do I speak of my Lord?

When I go to bed at night, it doesn’t matter if anyone liked what I wrote. It only matters that I wrote what I believe God led me to write. It doesn’t matter if my subscriber numbers dwindle because people don’t want to hear difficult words. It only matters if the difficult words were true and life-giving.

I would rather write to my audience of One and share it with 20 others who are eagerly seeking the same Lord in all circumstances than cautiously write and pander to thousands. That has always been my view and I was reminded of it again during the events of the past few weeks.

So you, too, live your life to an audience of One. Your daily choices should be what pleases Him.

God doesn’t call us to be faithful in order to please man. He doesn’t call us to do, speak, and write that which will most soothe and please the masses who don’t want to think about the call of God on their lives. God calls us to be faithful to Him and His Word. We leave the results to Him. It is far better to be faithful with the widow’s mite and receive our reward in the life to come than anything else we could do.

As we continue through the climax of this Fourth Turning, the foundations of our culture will continue to be shaken. Every institution is being scrutinized and the evil is being dismantled from it. This includes the church.

One of the greatest gifts of the past two years has been the steady unmasking of all who are fake Christian leaders. We can see more clearly every day those who love God, follow Jesus, and love His sheep. The wolves and false teachers are being exposed every week and my soul rejoices that this is true. I have been speaking out about some of these charlatans for years and I rejoice that people are finally seeing them for who they truly are. They are a subversive enemy who follows man, not Jesus. They have purposefully infiltrated the church to lie, deceive, and destroy. I rejoice that their empires are crumbling and God’s children are seeing the truth.

Yes, it is overwhelming to see these stories day after day. I have a folder called “Add to forum” that is filled with links to share about the church, the coronavirus, government, etc. They have piled up because I have felt an overwhelming sense of grief over the lies and lives destroyed by these evil men and women who serve only their own interests and the interests of their true lord who is not Jesus Christ.

The folder is also filled with stories of the truth about everything going on around us in the country and the world. Honestly, one of the only things keeping me sane in the midst of all this (beyond my faith) is the ability to access the truth on platforms like Gab and Telegram. When I see examples of the important information that Facebook and Twitter shut down on a daily basis, it is appalling.

More than that, it’s evil. It’s calculated evil, designed to deny people access to vital information they have a right to know.

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Psalm 42:11 ESV

God is on His throne. I ask Him to protect His sheep who are being led to slaughter. I ask Him to be gracious and defend those who are defenseless, partially due to the evil that makes them defenseless and partially because they have no idea how the enemies of their soul are arrayed against them.

If you’ve read this far, good for you. You understand. Now go live your life today for the audience of One. When you go to sleep tonight, reflect on whether or not you’ve lived your life for Him today. Did you speak for Him? Did you give to others in His name? Were you changed today because you walked in His light? Ask yourself these questions from Dr. Lloyd-Jones:

• Has God been supreme in my life today?
• Have I lived to the glory and the honor of God?
• Do I know Him better?
• Have I a zeal for His honor and glory?

If the answer is yes and continues to be yes, then you have done what God has asked. Give thanks and rest well.

I recently watched a lovely video by a young woman. She was explaining how she lives, the location, and why she made the somewhat less conventional choices she did. Her reasoning was sound and she brought up some profound insights related to her choice. (This was a secular video, not Christian.)

What made me sad is that she apparently felt compelled to add disclaimers and such throughout the video. It was as if she knew that the things she was saying would be offensive to some people so she was offering an apology in advance. She could already hear people saying, “Well, that’s great for you but not everyone has that option” or “It’s really selfish of you to do such and such when there are so many people who can’t this and that.” And so on.

Frankly, her decision to try to proactively appease the angry and spiteful people she expected to comment on the video’s content marred the production. It was still lovely, but it lost something.

She didn’t need to apologize for anything she said. Everything she said was truthful. (There was nothing remotely political about anything she said.) “These are the choices I’ve made, this is why I’ve made them, and this is the value I see in these choices.” I wish she had spent a few more minutes talking about why she loved the life she had created for herself rather than trying to not offend those addicted to seeking ways to be offended.

Note I didn’t say she spoke “her truth” because that popular way of looking at “truth” is a lie from the pit of hell. There is no such thing as “her truth” or “my truth” or “your truth.” There is the truth. There are ways that people perceive the truth, but the truth is the truth. No one has the right to discredit this young woman and her choices just because they don’t like them or it doesn’t fit the reality they’ve constructed in their head.

We should not apologize for boldly speaking the truth, especially that which is obviously true even though not popular.

Do you apologize for speaking the truth? Why?

Please stop apologizing for speaking the truth. Please stop offering disclaimers when you speak to others.

Should we speak the truth in love? Of course.

But if you are afraid to speak the truth, then ask yourself why.

This young woman felt the need to apologize in advance for her current life choices. Sound, rational choices. Why? If people don’t like what she has to say, they can leave and not watch her videos any longer.

That is my approach here. If someone doesn’t like what I say here, she is free to read somewhere else. I will not stop speaking the truth simply because it might offend someone. In this current culture, this post itself will probably offend someone. Someone will probably be offended by the fact that I said there is no such thing as “my truth” or that we need to not be afraid. That I am pushing Christians to be bold in speaking up for the truth.

What are you apologizing for? What are you avoiding in conversation? How are you censoring yourself?

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Speaking the truth matters.

Over the weekend, David shared two related articles with me.

Bari Weiss writes in the article Winston Marshall Was ‘Bloody Terrified’ to Quit Mumford & Sons. He Tells Me Why:

Who would willingly walk away from a job they love at the peak of their career?

As you might imagine, that’s the question I’ve been asked more than any other over the past year.

The answer, for me, was that staying at The New York Times would have meant that I had to become a half-version of myself. Staying would mean betraying my deeper values. And that was the sense I got from reading Winston Marshall’s essay.

He writes: “I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning.”

Winston Marshall writes this in the article Why I’m Leaving Mumford & Sons:

On the eve of his leaving to the West, Solzhenitsyn published an essay titled ‘Live Not By Lies’. I have read it many times now since the incident at the start of March. It still profoundly stirs me.

“And he who is not sufficiently courageous to defend his soul — don’t let him be proud of his ‘progressive’ views, and don’t let him boast that he is an academician or a people’s artist, a distinguished figure or a general. Let him say to himself: I am a part of the herd and a coward. It’s all the same to me as long as I’m fed and kept warm.”

For me to speak about what I’ve learnt to be such a controversial issue will inevitably bring my bandmates more trouble. My love, loyalty and accountability to them cannot permit that. I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning.

The only way forward for me is to leave the band.

This is why I parted ways with Teachers Pay Teachers. I was no longer willing to participate in the direction they had taken and it became clear there was no chance of that direction changing. By remaining on the platform and helping to fund their company in a small way by selling my products there, I was giving my tacit approval of their pivot to being a strong proponent of anti-racism and critical race theory.

I will not live by lies.

Are you willing to live by lies?

If you aren’t willing to stand up for the truth now, when will you be willing?

Will it be too late?

Speak the truth boldly and stop apologizing.

David and I spent a number of years studying in-depth the issue of women in the church. If you’ve been around here for some time, you know I had another (now closed) website where I shared my research. After many years, I felt led to bring most of it back and began writing again on these topics.

There were readers at that time who were very upset with me when I started asking these questions. They automatically assumed asking questions would lead to false teaching, heresy, and departing from the faith. In many cases, this is correct. However, David and I did not lose our faith. We are still what would be called conservative biblical Christians. Why is that?

While I was researching these topics, I got to know from a distance who the movers and shakers were in these circles on both sides of the argument. I read what they wrote and had a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the big controversies that developed. But I never ran in either of those circles for a variety of reasons. I was really more of an observer which was fine because there were fundamental differences in the way David and I approached the questions compared to both camps.

In this post, I want to focus on the women who were promoting the egalitarian and/or liberal view of the role of women in the church. As I watch more and more of these women depart from the historic Christian faith, I’ve come to see that O’Sullivan’s First Law describes the difference between where I have ended up and where they have ended up.

Conservapedia describes O’Sullivan’s First Law this way:

O’Sullivan’s First Law describes the leftward drift of many politicians, leaders, and organizations. First coined by John O’Sullivan in 1989, it states: “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.”

Here is how I would rephrase it for this particular situation:

All people searching for God and Christian truth who are not fervently committed to the core tenets of the historic Christian faith will over time deny the historic Christian faith.

When David and I were working out our theology in this area, there were certain truths that hemmed in our study. They included:

• God is good.
• God is sovereign.
• The Bible is God’s revealed Word and is infallible and inerrant.

We always went back to “what do the Scriptures say.” We asked lots of questions because God is fine with us asking questions if the goal is to know and follow Him better. God knows if we earnestly desire to submit to Him and are honestly seeking answers. He’s not bothered by our genuine desire to know the truth. Our approach was, “Lord, we want to understand this and follow you. Help us to figure this out and do the right thing.”

The difference is that those who are walking in all kinds of error did not maintain those same boundaries. There were several ways it happened, but it all goes back to the same deception in the Garden of Eden. “Did God really say?” Once you no longer trust the Word of God, you are toast. You really are. Once you start pulling at this thread and that thread, the entire thing unravels because there is no way to stop it. If you can explain away or disregard things you don’t like, it never ends.

Once you no longer trust God’s Word or God Himself, there is only one logical end. And that’s a steady shift toward liberalism, leftism, and often leaving Christianity altogether.

I think there are a few reasons for this among the people I have observed. Today, I’m simply going to list them and not try to explore them in depth because I want to write this and post it. (I’m focusing on doing more writing a post and publishing it rather than thinking everything must be thorough and lengthy.)

Reasons why people go left and fall off the rails.

• They are imposing their 21st century grid on the past.
• They are ruled and motivated by their feelings above everything else.
• They either are unable or choose not to deal with the challenging passages in Scripture.
• They devalue the Old Testament because it makes people today uncomfortable.
• They are arrogant and believe they know better than the unenlightened people in the past.
• They fear man more than they fear God.
• They were never actually one of the Lord’s sheep to begin with.

There are others, but these are the ones I have observed most regularly.

Why am I writing this today? To remind all of us that we must get up every day and purpose in our hearts to trust God, be in His Word, be in prayer, and keep our focus on the truth He has revealed to us in His Word. There is no middle road. There never really was, but it was easy to drift along in our culture.

Not any longer.

If you aren’t taking every thought captive, you will drift left. If you aren’t purposefully filling your mind with truth every day, you will drift left. History is replete with examples. Look at how Charles Spurgeon had to fight the Downgrade Controversy late in his life. Read about J. Gresham Machen’s fight against liberalism in the early twentieth century. These men fought against the spread of liberalism at great personal cost. Time has proved them both correct. There is nothing new under the sun. Those who deny the historic biblical faith today are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

In the lowest moments of my Christian walk, I often reminded myself of this truth: Many who have gone before me have found the Lord to be faithful. For centuries now Christians have walked with the Lord, learned from His Word, and known His love and care. Even though my life might have seemed all wrong at the moment, I could take comfort in the fact that my Christian brothers and sisters had set an example of faith for me. Knowing I was connected with those who came before me was always a comfort and strengthened my resolve to continue walking in faith.

Every day we are either drawing closer to the Lord or allowing ourselves to slowly drift left into apostasy. There is no other option. There is nothing new under the sun and it is the height of arrogance to think we can avoid the enemy’s trap that so many others have fallen prey to over the centuries. We aren’t special exceptions to the reality of life.

Make the deliberate choice this day and every day who you will serve.