What is the Gospel?

     "We're going to play a game," I told my junior high Bible study.  "I have written Bible facts and other true statements on index cards and placed them in this bag.  You'll each reach in and pull out a card, reading it aloud.  You have to say if the truth on your card is part of the gospel message."  

My very well-grounded junior highers, 2012-13 schoolyear

     "This is gonna be so easy!" I heard two of my eighth graders whisper excitedly to each other.  I grinned to myself.  It wouldn't be as easy as they thought.  

     I started with a shy seventh-grader.  She reached in and pulled out a card.  "Doing good is it's own reward," she read.  

     "Is that part of the gospel message?" I asked her. 

     "Say yes!" A few whispered to her.

     "No!  It's not!  That's not even in the Bible!" an older boy told her frantically.

     "It's her turn," I told the class. Turning to her, I asked, "Is that part of the gospel?"

     "I don't think it is," she replied, a little uncertainly.  

     "You are correct!"  I said.  "Ten points."

     "I could have sworn that was part of the gospel," one of the other kids hissed under his breath.

     The next student got a little bit harder one.  "God created the earth in six days," he read.  "Yes, that's gotta be part of the gospel message."

      "Well," I told him.  "It is biblical truth, and it's what we believe as Christians, but it isn't part of the message of salvation--at least not in a specific way."

     Several of the students protested at this.  "How can you witness to someone if you don't convince them that God created the earth in six days?" One of my very intelligent older boys asked.  "Evolution is false, and we have to show people that!"  

     "I agree with you," I said, "but that isn't what you'd start off with when witnessing.  It isn't the gospel.  It is part of the larger truth of the Bible, and it is very important, but it isn't the salvation message.  If someone is unsaved and you just want to share the message with them to get them to understand what Jesus did for them, you wouldn't get into a debate about Evolution.  That might come later."

     The boy looked nonplussed (he probably had a calling on his life to be an apologist).  

     The rest of the quotations on cards ranged from statements such as, "Jesus rose again on the third day," (definitely a gospel point) to "What goes around comes around."  I was trying to get the students to zero in on what the gospel message is.  These were smart, well-grounded kids who knew their Bibles well.  However, because they knew the word so well, they didn't really know how to share their faith without sharing the entire Bible with someone in one sitting.  I was trying to help them fine-tune it.  

     What is the gospel?  God created and loves us (John 3:16a).  We have sinned (Romans 3:23) and God's righteousness demands our sin be punished--death (Romans 6:23).  Jesus took the penalty for our sinfulness by willingly dying for our sins and rising on the third day (First Corinthians 15:3-4).  Salvation is received by faith in the finished work of Christ (Acts 16:31).  That is the gospel message in a nutshell.  These details can be fleshed out.  The entirety of scripture frames this message, and teaches us so much more for our lives as believers.  However, not every truth in scripture is part of witnessing to the unsaved.  No one is saved because they believe that Noah built an ark.  That is true, and that story, as all parts of scripture, reveals the truth of who God is and how He has been at work...but that story in and of itself doesn't offer us salvation.  Believing the account of Noah and the flood in Genesis is good and right, but it doesn't save us.  It is a picture of what does.  If someone doesn't believe this, or any other part of the Bible, I would question how they can know any of the Bible is true if they can't believe all of it.  That is an entirely different issue, though.  

     In saying that these other biblical narratives and teachings aren't part of the gospel, am I de-emphasizing them or relegating them to a place of lesser importance?  Not at all!  Second Timothy 3:16 tells us, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness.  All scripture...every verse...every word.  It is all true, God's message for us.  Hebrews 4:12 says, The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joins and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  It transcends time, and is just as applicable to us today as it was when it was first recorded.  God's Spirit lives in the hearts of believers, and illumines the truth of the Bible to us as we read it.  The Holy Spirit applies it to our lives in ways He knows we need it.  God's word is all valid.  However, different passages serve different purposes.  The gospel is the overarching message, and all of it contributes in some what toward that, but not every verse is the gospel.  Not every verse is about salvation.  

     My dad was an adult Sunday school teacher from my very early childhood until I was in my thirties. As a young adult, I spent time in his class. He used to assign homework.  Everyone would receive the passage for the next week, all printed out in the King James Version (because it was legal to print it out and distributed it without violating copyright laws).  The students were to read the passage and color each verse with one of four colored pencils.  If the passage taught something about the nature of God, they were to color it in yellow.  If it was a promise, they were to color it blue.  If it was a command or warning, it was to be colored red, and it if was something true about Christians, it was to be colored green.  Every week, people would share what they had gotten for each verse.  Sometimes, people saw some verses a little differently, and some verse fit more than one category.  This basic practice should illustrate that different verses serve different functions in the Bible.  After the students colored their verses, they were to write their own paraphrase of the passage, verse by verse.  This was also eye-opening, as people were actually sharing what God had shown them through these verses.  

     I remember one time, I was teaching a Bible lesson in Vacation Bible School.  The story that day was about Adam and Eve.  One of the boys, Jason, was my little Bible scholar, and he was the type who would always raise his hand and try to tell the rest of the story as soon as he recognized what I was teaching.  When he realized I was teaching about Adam and Eve that day, his hand shot up. 

 

      "Jason," I said, knowing from experience what he was thinking, "I'm making you my mistake catcher.  You listen carefully and make sure I don't mess up, and at the end, you can tell me if I forgot anything."

     

     This was agreeable.  Well, I taught the story, and at the end, was ready to move onto the next activity.  

     Jason called you, "You forgot to let me tell you all the mistakes you made!"  

     "Did I make any?" I asked.  

     "Yes," he replied.  "You forgot to mention that a day is as a thousand years with the Lord!"  

     This is a cute, funny story, but in reality, does that truth Jason quoted (which is found in Psalm 90:4) apply to the story of Adam and Eve?  No, not really.  If we are going to study the Bible, teach it to others, and especially share the gospel with the unsaved, we need to know how to handle the Word.  We need to understand what to use and when to use it.  Second Timothy 2:15 says, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  

     We not only need to read and know the Bible, but understand what it teaches.  We need to have a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. This is called systematic theology.  Know what the Bible teaches, and where to apply these teachings.  Then, you can effectively share the gospel without getting into a debate about other matters...and you can teach a Bible study about those other matters and know how to correctly explain them.  

     So...how do we develop systematic theology?  We need to be reading the Bible in an ongoing way.  Daily time in the word is a must.  When you read a passage, ask yourself what the passage is saying, who was being addressed in the original audience, how it applies to you today as a believer, and what the passages teachings about God.  See if the notes in your Bible give parallel passages, and look them up.  Maybe you could even highlight verses the way my father had his Sunday school class do.  Find a biblically-sound commentary and use it in your Bible study.  A free online commentary I like is the Enduring Word Commentary.  Look it up.  I also own some hard copy copies of the Bible Knowledge Commentary.  They are really helpful.  Having these tools is a real aid in developing systematic theology, and in turn, knowing how to handle God's word.  

     

What's the Focus?

     As Christians, representing Christ on this earth, what is the "bottom line" of our message?  What is the focal purpose of what we stand for?  

     Many people accuse evangelicals of being focused on the conservative response to social issues, such as abortion, the LGBT+ agenda, and other issues that demand a response.  I have heard it said that the church should be known for what they stand for more than what they stand against.  Is that the correct way to think of it?

     First Corinthians 2:2 tells us, For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  A little later, in chapter 9 verse 16, it says, Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel!  This answers our question as to what our central message is.  The Apostle Paul put everything else aside to make the gospel of Christ the focus.  We should be doing the same.  As the Church today, we should be known as being for Jesus, being believers in His death and resurrection, and wanting to reach everyone else with His lifegiving message of the gospel.  In Ephesians 3:8, Paul reveals that being a preacher of the gospel is by God's grace.  It is a blessing and joy to get to share the gospel message.  

     Sometimes, periphery matters can get in the way of a gospel presentation.  One time, my husband and I were doing evangelism with a group in Sioux City, Iowa.  One of the men on our team was trying to tell people who walked by that they needed to give up certain habits, and he was making those things the focus, rather than telling them about how Jesus can deliver them from these things...or just preaching Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit lead them.  Was there a place for addressing those things?  Perhaps, but certainly not in the context of the gospel.  If someone isn't even saved, they're not going to have the inner resources to fight these things in their lives.  They're not going to care.  And even if they did care, breaking a sinful habit isn't salvation.  No one is in Heaven because they successfully kicked a bad habit.  We need to get the horse before the cart.  The message of Jesus Christ, crucified for our sins and risen the third day is of primary importance.  It was what the Apostles gave their lives for!  It was the message given to believers over the centuries, passed down to us.  We are the keepers of that message now, and we must be faithful with it!

     That being said, should we just ignore things in our society that are unbiblical?  Are evangelicals obsessed with the conservative side of the argument?  Well, no more than the liberals are obsessed with pushing the liberal side.  Many of these issues demand an answer.  Passivity gets us nowhere.  We need to give the scriptural answer.  I have addressed some of these issues in previous blog posts, and won't go into a lot of details on them at the moment, but here is my question: Is there a way to biblically respond to what is happening around us, while at the same time, sticking to the gospel of Christ and making it about that?  Yes!

     Every believer is called to stand for the gospel.  As for other things, we are called to believe God's word, but some are specifically called upon to speak out, like John the Baptist did in Luke 3:19.  If John the Baptist lived today, many in our churches would probably tell him to "stop judging," but was John judging in any sort of sinful way (there are two ways to judge,  and one was a command by Jesus for us to do!)?  I don't believe John was sinning.  He wasn't speculating or spreading gossip.  He was responding to something that was very public and known by all.  If John had been wrong, Jesus would have said something about that, but instead, Jesus praised John in Matthew 11:11.  Jesus isn't as "anti-judging" as 21st century Americans are.  

     There are issues demanding our response as believers.  We can't let unbiblical statements go unchallenged.  We need to make a stand.  Some are specifically called to speak out, while others are called to pray for them and support them.  I can categorically say that no believers are called to accuse their fellow Christians who take a stand of "judging" however.  Watch that.   

     The bottom line, even in situations of taking a stand on a public issue, is the Lordship of Christ.  If Jesus is someone's Lord and Savior, the center of their being, the One they are striving to follow and obey, they are going to be led in the godly way in all of these things.  God is not going to lead someone into sin.  There is a very vocal woman in Texas who shares her story of discovering her toddler son was "really" a transgender girl, and is now raising this child (now age nine) as a girl instead of his birth sex.  This woman was a Bible-believing Christian, and still claims to be.  She extends a lot of energy and emotion try to prove that her views are compatible with biblical Christianity and getting angry with those who disagree with her.  And yet as I read the things she has written, I don't see Jesus as the center of her message.  I don't know her, or her heart.  I didn't go through what she did, and I can't simplify her experiences, but I can use God's word as the measuring stick.  When I read her story, I see her child, and the leftist LGBT+ agenda being the center of her life, much more paramount that Christ.  Many people who are living this lifestyle are making themselves the center.  Fulfilling what they want to do is the center of their lives.  The same could be said for many other issues and lifestyles.  Making a cause--any cause--the focus of our message, instead of Jesus, is idolatry.  This woman in Texas has made an idol of her child.  If we truly teach salvation through Christ, and then, after someone's salvation, we teach them the Lordship of Christ in all areas, I suspect we won't have as many battles with these other issues.  

     As the church today, we should be known for what we stand in favor of--Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  For Him, we are also in favor of self-denial, taking up our crosses and following Him.  What we stand against is anything that gets in the way of making Jesus our everything.  

My reward is with me

      Do you ever get tired of injustice?  I'm not just talking about major things, either.  I mean injustice that touches you, personally.  For example, maybe you worked hard all year long for a promotion, but the boss gave it to his nephew, who is completely lazy and didn't deserve it like you did.  Frustrating things like that happen all the time.  I don't know about you, but I struggle with it.

     A good friend of mine, who is one of the most godly women I knew, is going through a trying situation, and I just want to see the Lord reward her faithfulness and avenge her suffering.  That hasn't happened for her yet.    

     As children, we cry, "That's not fair!"  I once helped with the children's ministry at a Chinese Church's retreat.  There was a little boy, a three-year-old, who mostly only spoken Chinese.  However, he had learned one English phrase:  "No fair!"  Whenever he got mad at someone during the retreat, he'd yell, "No fair!  No fair!" and point at the person he happened to be mad at.  It was cute, actually.  But that's how we are as humans.   We are taught that "Life isn't fair."  And it isn't.  In spite of this, I don't think we ever really get over our deeply-rooted desire to see justice.  As Christians, our desires are hopefully for God's perfect justice to be done.  After all, we pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven," (Matthew 6:10).  

     I'll get vulnerable a minute and share that something I have struggled with is that my husband and I haven't been able to have children, and yet I see God giving pregnancies to women He knows will just have an abortion.  Why not just let us have a baby and make those people be infertile?  This idea makes me very, very angry sometimes, if I let it.  It is unjust that people who don't want or love their children are blessed with them, and yet we're not.  In the worst of moments, I have wondered if God somehow likes these people better than me.  My theological faith knows this isn't true, but there are hard days. I get tempted to think, Come on, God.  Can't you just give us a baby to prove You're on our side?  I know friends who are single and very much want to meet the love of their life.  They see people getting married who wouldn't be half as good of a spouse as they would be, and it hurts.  They want that vindication from God that they're doing right waiting on Him.  There are so many other circumstances that hurt like that as well, and we just don't always see God doing anything.  

     There are so many situations people can be in that seem so wrong, so different from God's perfect ideal in creation.  People do wicked things and seem to get away with it, while their victims suffer.  

     The thing we need to remember is, God hasn't settled all His accounts yet.  That comes later.  Rest assured, no good nor bad deed will go unrecompensed.   Revelation 22:12 tells us, Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves.  Someone getting that promotion at work, pregnancy, or anything else in this life isn't a sign that they're God's favorite pet, nor are the lack of these things a curse or punishment.  My friend who is suffering right now is not being punished by God.  I cannot attempt to explain why God allows us to suffer.  I can't explain why you have had the experiences you've had.  I love Second Corinthians 4:8 in the Living Bible: ...We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit.  Yes, we are perplexed sometimes.  On a basic level, this comes about because we live in a fallen world.  But saying that sounds so hollow when we're suffering.  

     We have to believe that we are in God's Sovereign plan, somehow.  Again, this can't be completely explained by mere mortals.  Sometimes, at some of the most painful moments I have experienced, I have had strength from beyond myself.  God's Spirit gave me that strength, and here is why I believe that is possible. 

     When Jesus suffered, He not only paid the penalty for our sins, but He also redeemed our suffering.  I believe that as He hung on that cross, in addition to purchasing our redemption, He felt the suffering we do, caused by sin.  The worst of our suffering fell on Him, so that when it hits us, His strength is given to us.  He not only redeems us from sin, but He redeems everything that happens to us.  

     I had a painful experience at age twenty.  It was a very hurtful rejection from a boyfriend I had thought I would marry (I'm very thankful now that I didn't, but at the time, it hurt badly).  At the exact moment it happened, I had this moment of disconnect.  It was almost as if I left my body (I didn't, but just follow me here), and rose up above the whole earth, and looked down on how small this situation was from that vantage point.  It felt, for just a moment, as if I had complete joy, and nothing could hurt me.  I believe that at that moment, when the blow came, God shielded me from the worst of it.  Ephesians 2:6 tells us He has seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  That is our position in Christ.  I believe I experienced this spiritual reality for just a moment.  While on that cross, Jesus felt the blow of that rejection, so that I didn't have to.  When it hit me, He pulled me to Him, because He had already taken that bullet for me.  The moment passed, and I was back in the present, dealing with everything associated with it, but God gave me that sense of Himself when I needed it the very most.  Because of what He has done, anything is possible.  He can redeem anything we go through.  

     Never, ever would I presume to explain suffering--not yours, not mine, not anyone's.  Even trying is to cheapen your pain, and I would never do that.  I do know that we need to hold onto what we know to be true.  God sees you.  He sees what has happened.  Psalm 37:7 tells us, rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  One day, God will make all things right.  He will satisfy the depths of your soul beyond anything you can imagine now.  In the meantime, just hold on.  You don't even have to try that hard, because He is the One who holds onto you.  

Persecuted

      I have heard so many pastors and Christian leaders lately talk about how American Christians are weak, and have never been persecuted like the rest of the world.  "But it's coming, so watch out!" they conclude.  This doesn't set well with me.  People in other nations are painted as being more spiritual than Americans.  Are we, as American Christians, weak?  Is the rest of the world earning treasures in Heaven by being persecuted, while we're enjoying the good life in a lazy hammock?  Is that a realistic picture?  I'm going to establish, using factual evidence and the Word of God, what constitutes persecution, who is persecuted, and what makes someone a "strong Christian." 

     Second Timothy 3:12 tells us, Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  This is telling us that every believer who is walking with the Lord will face persecution.  It doesn't specify what country they're from.  It doesn't have it.  Every godly believer will face it.  In fact, I believe every godly believer has, unless they are very newly saved.  

     Let's look at what persecution is.  According to the dictionary, it is: hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs.  It doesn't say that it's being beheaded or thrown in prison.  Those are the extreme things we tend to associate with persecution.  They can definitely be part of persecution, but they are not the entirety of what it is.  It only takes a moment to die for Christ, but it takes a lifetime to live for Him daily, and accept all that goes with that.  That's what Jesus meant when He told us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him (Matthew 16:4).  Persecution is part of living.

     There are several biblical examples of persecution.  Abel was obedient to God and was murdered by his jealous brother.  Noah was disbelieved by his neighbors, the Israelites were enslaved, David was hunted down, Elijah was threatened, many of the prophets were rejected, threatened, or killed.  

     What did Jesus say would happen to believers for their stand?  In John 16:2-4a, He told His disciples: They will ban you from the synagogue, yet an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering a service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  Notice that first part.  They would be banned from the synagogue--the center of religious life.  If anyone knew what it was like to have a supposedly God-fearing culture, it was the disciples.  Israel had a very special relationship with God, and has received so much from Him, but had strayed multiple times.  Sounds a lot like the US, doesn't it?  I'm not suggesting the US has the same covenant relationship with God that Israel does.  I am saying that their culture had a lot in common with ours.  They had a godly history and were still God-fearing on the surface.  Yet these disciples, once they received the Holy Spirit, would reveal the falseness of the religious system by preaching the truth, and this would have them put out by those who supposedly knew God.  I will return to this.

     I think I have fairly established that persecution isn't simply being jailed or killed for the faith.  It can be that, but isn't necessarily.  It isn't always from an oppressive government either.  It can be from people we know and love.  It can be from those who claim to speak for God.  Now let's examine who can rightly claim to have been persecuted.  

         I think one thing that is a little bit complicated about the US (and many other Western nations) is that we have much more Christianity woven into the fabric of our culture, so many things are seen as Christian, when they aren't biblical at all.  People in Eastern nations see Madonna (or some other sexualized diva--Madonna is the only one I know, I am dating myself!) wearing a cross necklace above her skimpy outfits, and think that's what American Christianity is all about.  Many people try to pay lip service to Jesus in our supposedly Christian culture.  If faced with real persecution, they would never stand up for their so-called faith.  Those people are weak.  Are true believers weak?  

     Being a Christian--truly going the distance with Jesus--is going against the grain, even in a Western "Christian" nation.  Even in the Bible belt.  Sometimes, even in the pews of our churches.  The religious freedom enjoyed in the US and many other nations is a blessing, but also makes it easier for people to fake it.  That is the problem people are really referring to when they make these statements about American Christians being weak.  But what about those of us who are not faking it?   

     As an American Christian, the biggest hurts I have experienced haven't been from the government or from atheists or someone pushing an agenda.  They have been from so-called fellow believers.  I think the church in nations like ours is in a unique position to attack its own.  Christians in Communist or Islamic nations have to band together.  They might be persecuted from without, but at least the church is a safe place to be.  We have the opposite problem.  We don't have the government banging on our doors, but we have so many professing Christians who are so comfortable in their mediocre lives that they attack true believers who make a stand.  These true believers are shedding light on the mediocre professing believer's fakery, and they can't have that.  They treat them the same way the Pharisees treated Jesus.  Are these professing Christians really saved?  Some probably are.  Many, I would guess, are not.  They're like the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30).  I would say the majority who attack God's people aren't saved, because, as stated earlier, John 16:3 says, These things they will do because they have not known the Father nor Me.  These people don't know God.  They don't like the light of the Lord being exposed on their sin, so they attack the bearers of that light.  

     One of the most obvious "persecution from fellow believers" stories for me was that seven years ago, I was a leader in a community Bible study.  This study was all women, and, unfortunately, it could get a bit catty.  In the course of my involvement, I made a stand about something.  I didn't make it in any sort of combative way.  It was stated in how I shared what I had gotten out of the passage we were studying that week.   The next thing I knew, I was kicked out, told not to return.  The woman in charge was very patronizing, and told me, "You're just too good of a Christian for this study."  Huh?  In the days following, I kept thinking, "How can Christians do that to each other?"  I know I am not alone in having faced something like this.  After all, Jesus forewarned us that persecution would come from the supposedly God-fearing.  Am I suggesting this woman wasn't a Christian?  Not at all.  God knows hearts.  I do not.  But she wasn't acting in accordance with God.  I lost friendships and my standing in that community.  

     Sometimes, it's the small stuff that just shows us this world isn't our home.  I was in another Bible study (not the one I got kicked out of!) many years ago.  A woman in my small group shared how she was part of a moms group, with other women who got together while their kids played.  They were trying to set up some sort of activity, and they wanted to have it on the day of Bible study.  This woman shared that she had Bible study.  The other moms all looked at her funny, and several said, "That's not that important.  You can miss it."  Yet they were bending over backwards to accommodate the other people's schedules and activities.  Was this woman being thrown to lions?  No, but she was making a stand, and it was affecting her relationships.  Just because that is seemingly small doesn't mean it didn't hurt her, or affect her life.  She made her choice, took her stand, and pleased God.    

     When I was on a mission trip in New England several years ago, a woman didn't like the fact that we were doing a Bible club in the park near her home.  She called the police on us!  We weren't breaking any laws, so they told her they wouldn't even show up, so this woman came down herself and shouted at us in front of the children we were teaching.  The law was on our side, unlike in some nations, but the hostility was still there.  

     We are maligned by the media.  Religious/Christian people are made to look stupid, out of touch, or hiding big, dirty secrets.  When I was in my mid-20's the movie Saved hit theaters.  It was an attempt to mock conservative Christianity by making the characters hypocritical, foolish, vindictive, and cruel.  Just seeing the ads for it hurt my heart.  If they made a movie mocking any other religious group, or any other group of people at all, it would have been considered hateful.  Yet it's okay to mock Christians.  First John 3:1b is such a comfort to me, The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  They don't know our Savior, so of course they don't understand His followers.  It hurts to be misunderstood and mocked.  Jesus warned His disciples about this too, in John 15:20: Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.  It looks to me that American Christians are experiencing persecution exactly as the Bible has said. 

     Then, there are the very strong cases.  Cases like seventeen-year-old Rachel Scott, at Columbine High School, who was asked if she believed in God, replying, "You know that I do," and being shot to death for it.  That happened right here in America, folks.  Still think American's don't experience persecution? 

Rachel Scott, 1981-1999

     This year, with the pandemic, some governors took the opportunity to close churches, deeming them as "non-essential."  However, rioting wasn't stopped (in some cases it was even encouraged).  Strip clubs were allowed to remain open.  Christians in these states have made a stand, some defying the governors, and others cleverly finding ways around the restrictions.  One pastor in San Diego, California turned his church into a "family-friendly strip club" by removing his tie before the sermon.  Very clever.  But these governors are persecuting the believers in their states.  

     We also tend to talk about the rest of the world as if they are fighting for their lives every minute and we have it so much easier than all of them.  That isn't the case in every nation.  Open Doors ministry lists eleven nations nations that are very dangerous for Christians, thirty-four that are moderately dangerous, and five that are somewhat dangerous.  These nations are mostly Communist or Islamic.  In the top ten BEST nations for Christianity/religious liberty, the US is ranked number 5.  In my own international travels, I have seen countries with more freedom to share the gospel than the US, such as in public schools.  There are other nations that aren't being fed to lions either.  And yet all of us who truly live for the Lord are facing persecution in one way or another.  The world doesn't know us.  

     I think some of the hurts American Christians go through are the untold stories.  Many people pray for the persecuted church (as they should) but never think about the Christians in "free" nations who are living godly in Christ Jesus, and paying for it daily in terms of broken hearts, mistreatment, unfulfilled desires, loneliness, rejection, and other struggles.  Our stories are often minimized.  We are part of the body too, and we are in pain.  Many years ago, I started to write a book about this called The Persecuted Church in America.  I conducted interviews with several Christians who had been hurt by other so-called Christians, as well as pastors who had had people leave their churches.  I still have all that research.  Maybe one day, I'll finish it.  At the time, God led me to lay off for a while.  I was too intensely involved.  

     Christians everywhere face some level of persecution.  What makes someone a strong Christian, and therefore a candidate for persecution?  What has happened in that person's life to make them so?

     I said it earlier, but Jesus told us to deny ourselves, take our our crosses daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23--earlier I quoted it out of Matthew, as it is also stated there).  Denying ourselves means choosing God's way, in spite of our own desires.  Choosing to forgive, when hate is a strong temptation.  Choosing to be humble, when the tendency is to be puffed up.  Choosing to be celibate when your desires can't be righteously fulfilled.  Choosing not to engage in ungodly talk when everyone around you is having fun doing it.  Choosing to let God alone meet your emotional needs, rather than drugs, food, relationships, or hobbies.  Choosing not to reply in anger to that email.  Choosing to get up and go to church instead of sleeping in.  These are just a few ways we deny ourselves.  Maybe there are some you face that I didn't touch on.  Taking up your cross is the next part.  That involves taking everything that comes with that choice of self-denial.  Maybe it's unfulfilled desires.  Maybe it's being ostracized.  Maybe it's a threat to your physical safety.  Maybe it's seeing others succeeding while you wait and wait.  No matter the specifics, it is being willing to accept what comes with godly choices, trusting God to make it right one day.  The final step is to follow Jesus.  Once you've done those first two steps, the third one is a joy to do, because you're not alone.  He is with you, and He leads you to others who are also on this narrow path. 

     Hebrews 11 talks about some people we often call heroes of the faith.  These were Old Testament believers who walked by faith, and pleased God.  In verses 13b-16, we are given their secret: having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.  And indeed if they had been thinking of that country which they left, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.  These believers (and those of us living for the Lord today) have made a choice.  We have decided to live for what waits beyond this life, rather than for this world.  This world is not our home.  When we have chosen that, we are "strong Christians."  Don't let anyone tell you you're weak because you haven't been in jail or had your life threatened.  

     James 1:12 tells us: Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  Continuing to walk with the Lord, in spite of difficulties, will bring eternal rewards.  Also, God will one day make all things right, and avenge all wrongs.  Hang in there.  God sees you.  

If you're willing...

     If God has called you to something, and you're willing to obey, it's up to Him to prepare you.  Have you ever believed God was asking you to do something that seemed too much?  Too difficult?  I have!  I imagine we all have.  That is why the truth remains that if God has called you to do something, and you're willing to obey, it's up to Him to prepare you!

     You might just be going about your normal business when a calling comes your way.  Elisha was just minding his own business in First Kings 19:19, when Elijah came up to him and put his mantle on him.  That was, in essence, saying, "Come serve with me.  Be my disciple."  God had told Elijah just a few verses earlier to take Elisha to be his successor as prophet for God's people.  Elisha must have been taken by surprise, but the last two verses in the chapter tell us that he barbecued his oxen, using his farming equipment for kindling, and followed Elijah.  

 

     God still calls His children today.  What has He called you to do?  This past year, He called my husband and me to return to a ministry I had previously worked in.  It is a wonderful ministry, but I had some misgivings.  I can see how God has been preparing us for this.  It is stretching me, in a good way.  I'm in a different position than I had ever held in this ministry, and am learning a lot of new things.  That can be intimidating, but I carry on.  What has God called you to do?  

     Phil Schuler faced this question.  As a little boy in the 1920's, he had had a serious injury that rendered him unable to speak, and severely messed up his spine (he got into the military to fight in WWII by submitting a friend's X-ray as his own--they would have never taken him if they'd seen his real X-ray.  He had paid one dollar for a copy of his friend's X-ray, and he claimed he must have been the only man in US history to pay a dollar to get into the military!  His deception was discovered after the war, upon his exit physical).  

     For the decade after that childhood accident, Phil could stammer, but not speak articulately.  He carried a little pad of paper with him and wrote down everything in order to communicate.  At the age of fourteen, he received Christ as his Savior.  He was a joyful Christian for two years, no longer minding his limitations, because he was so overjoyed to know Christ.  One night, when he was sixteen, he was struck with a strong sense that God was calling him to preach.  He went forward at a revival, and was laughed at.  His own father said, "God never called someone to preach the gospel who can't even answer the telephone!"  (Maybe someone should have told him that the Apostle Paul never answered a telephone either!).  The only person in his family who believed in his calling was his mother.  He felt so battered by his father's and brother' doubts, but his mother was an angel of mercy to him.  She showed him Exodus 4:11-12, But the Lord said to him, “Who has made the human mouth? Or who makes anyone unable to speak or deaf, or able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I Myself will be with your mouth, and instruct you in what you are to say."

     The very next day, a youth pastor from their church came by and said, "I hear God called you to preach last night at the revival.  Well, we're having a youth revival this Saturday.  Will you preach for that?"  He readily agreed.  Now remember, he still hadn't spoken a coherent word since he was a young child, and he's agreeing to preach.  He told us in this message that that youth pastor had had no common sense, but a lot of faith.  Anyway, he wrote a note to his dad, asking him to help him prepare a sermon.  His dad still didn't believe in his calling, but he finally agreed to help him write a sermon. 

     The big night came.  I now mention that this youth revival was held at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, and had several of the up-and-coming young actors of the late 1930s in attendance that night, such as Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and some of Hal Roach's Our Gang kids.  Phil walked up to the podium, opened his mouth...and his voice came out for the first time in a decade.  It scared him to death, because his voice was very high-pitched from lack of use.  Some of those in attendance knew him, and they were shocked to hear him speak.  He was so excited that he wrapped up his dad's sermon in about five minutes, then just went off the cuff, doing everything he could to keep talking and using his voice!  At the end of the hour, his father (who was slated to preach the next session) came forward in tears and said, "Son, you've convinced me you're called by God...but you're cutting into my hour!  Wrap it up!"  

     Phil Schuler preached at the teen camp I attended as a Freshman in high school.  He was in his 70's then.  God had used him to preach the gospel for decades, and he challenged all of us that if God has called us to do something, and we're willing to obey, it's up to Him to prepare us.  He couldn't even talk, and God called him.  God will equip us to serve Him.  I know it's cliché to say, but God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  

     If we had to wait until we had perfect motives and perfect understanding, we'd never get to serve the Lord.  I look at Jesus.  His disciples spent so much time learning from him, but they still didn't get it until the Resurrection, and even more so at Pentecost.  And yet, long before they even understood the basic reason Jesus came, He sent them out in Luke 10.  They were to heal the sick and preach the kingdom.  They returned, joyfully amazed at what God had done.  We believers today have the New Testament, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and much greater understanding of what God has done, and yet we hesitate.  If you're like me, you might question, "Can I really do this?"  "Isn't there someone more qualified than me?"  "What about [insert your limitation]?"  These questions might sound like humility, but they are really self-focused.  They demonstrate a lack of faith.  Remember, Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will do it. (First Thessalonians 5:24).

     We tend to think of a calling in terms of a fulltime ministry career.  The truth is, God calls us to a relationship with Him.  He calls us to love our enemies.  He calls us to study His word.  He calls us to share Christ with those who don't know Him.  He might call you into a ministry position, or he might call you into a secular job where you'll be the only witness some of your coworkers will know.  He might call you to witness to your neighbors.  He might call you to extend grace to someone who is very difficult.  No matter the calling, you can do it, because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).  

     In my life, I am learning to trust the Lord, obey what I know to be His revealed will, and leave the results up to Him.  If He has called you to something, and you're willing to obey, it's up to Him to prepare you!

The Changing Times

     "America is really going down the tubes," our youth pastor told us seriously.  "Why, when I was young..." he went on to share about how perfect the world of the 1940s' and 50's had been.  As a teenager in the 1990's, these kinds of talks made me feel guilty for living in the present instead of the past, even though I had no choice in the matter.  They also made me feel hopeless, as if there was nothing good in store for my generation, and we had no value to the kingdom of God.  Our leaders at church were wonderful people, and did many things right, but going on and on about how the past was superior to the present was something I could have done without.  The godly youth just felt bad, like I did.  The youth who weren't strong in the Lord just tuned it all out.  No one was benefited.  Another Sunday school teacher in the same church told us that everyone was a Christian in the 1800's, and the world didn't get evil until the 20th century.  Everyone believed this was true, but it bothered me.  

 

     Is the world getting worse and worse?  Some have said it is getting better and better.  What does the Bible say about this?  Were people morally and spiritually superior in past generations?  Let's look at this.

     A thought-provoking movie about this is the 2002 Christian film Time Changer.  The story starts in 1890.  A professor at a theological seminary has written a book called The Changing Times, about how Christian principles can be taught apart from the name of Christ, and can still benefit society.  In order for this book to be published, the whole seminary board has to unanimously vote to endorse it.  All but one board member accepts it.  The dissenting member is very concerned with where such teaching could lead in the future.  The professor/author is furious about this, but changes his tune when he is given the chance to go forward in time 110 years to the year 2000, and see where the world has gone in light of such modernistic teaching about morality without Jesus.  This movie is a little corny, but also deep.  It definitely has its touching moments.  It's a low-budget film, made before the advent of many of the higher quality Christian movies in theaters today.  It is a sort of cross between Back to the Future (with the time-travel/changing history aspect of it) and Elf  (with this 1890's professor being shocked by the world of 2000, similar to how Buddy acts in New York City).   At the end, he returns to 1890, and determines to edit his book, as well as be a witness for Christ, not just morality.  For the point it was trying to make (morality without Christ is futile), it was amazing, and I recommend it.  However, some took from it that the movie was trying to say the world was better in 1890.  I don't believe that was the point at all, but assuming it was, let's look at that.

     The late 19th century was a time of change in the world.  In a sense, it wasn't so different from today.  It was a time of history moving along, just like now.  Two of my favorite hymns, Higher Ground and Heavenly Sunlight, were written in the 1890's.  Spiritually, the 1890's fell between some revivals, with none going on at that time in particular.  Dwight Moody preached until shortly before his death in 1899, however.  At this time in history, children were often forced to work in factories for pennies, just barely enough to help their families.  This was the period of the newsboys strike (which was depicted in the movie and Broadway musical Newsies).  Women didn't yet have the right to vote.  Liberal modernism had already made its way into Christianity and churches, though this controversy between liberalism and fundamentalism would become much more pronounced in the 1920's.  Many of the problems from that time no longer exist, but some of our problems today didn't exist then either.  It's a mixed bag.  

     Also worth noting, it is very easy to romanticize the past.  When it was the 1890's, no one thought it was particularly romantic or amazing.  It was just normal life, like today is for us.  I think people romanticize the past because it can no longer disappoint us.  It's under control.  It isn't a threat.  The present and future can seem scary, but the present has always been "the present" even in the past (wow, what a sentence!)!  

     It is easy to look at the late 19th century and see the good--how the Bible was still in our public schools, how more marriages stayed together, and how church attendance was higher--while ignoring the wrong.  Many people of that era who read the Bible in schools and even churches had no understanding of what it was really saying, so it wasn't transforming their hearts (Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, Second Timothy 3:5a).  There really weren't more born-again Christians than today.  Just more professing Christians.  It was more culturally beneficial to be a Christian at that time, so many unsaved people claimed Christianity.  This is even true today.  In my adult life, I once had a boss who was secretly practicing witchcraft, but publicly always talked about us doing right at work because it was "the Christian thing to do."  She would use the word "Christian" as synonymous with good, and the general people who heard her talk that way thought she was a God-fearing woman.  A lot of people do that.  As of 2015, 75% of Americans claimed to be Christians, but upon deeper questioning, only 29% said they had made a personal decision to receive Christ as Savior.  With so many people claiming Christianity culturally, maybe we're a lot more like the 1890s than we realize.  There is a big difference between Christian culture and actually being a Christian.  

This map depicts religion in the US (not necessarily isolating Christianity).  Most of the deep green state are the Bible Belt, and are the most religious (Utah is not considered the Bible Belt, but is part of this deep green category because of the strong adherence to Mormonism).  The medium green states are "average" (whatever that means).  The yellow-green are have the lowest religious involvement.  

     I'll camp on this just a second.  We tend to value Christian culture.  I grew up in Southern California, which has a largely secular reputation (in spite of many wonderful churches and Bible seminaries, and in spite of it being "average" on this map).  Christians in California often idealize the "Bible Belt" (which many think is all states outside of California).  Technically, the Bible Belt is the South (all deep green states on the map besides Utah).  Having lived in California, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas and now Arkansas, I can say that there isn't as much difference as people think.  It was funny that, as soon as I arrived in South Dakota (after 34 years as a Californian) all my Christian friends back home kept saying how lucky I was to be in the Bible Belt (hint: South Dakota isn't in the Bible Belt, and the particular town we lived in there was a much more secular humanistic society than I'd had in California.).  I currently do live in the Bible Belt, and even now, I don't think it's better or worse than anywhere else.  People here act more or less the same as those in my previous states.  Besides that, Christian culture isn't a virtue in itself.  It's something we idealize, but it isn't good unless it actually facilitates people becoming real Christians, and gives God glory.  If people are living moral lives and going to church, but don't know Jesus Christ, there is no benefit.  What do we as Christians profit if we influence others toward morality and goodness, but lose them for eternity (For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36)?  Our goal isn't a Christian culture as an end in itself.  Our goal should be to win the lost for Christ.  Having a culture that leans more toward Christianity is only helpful it it enables us to reach that end.  To be honest, some of the nicest, most godly, committed believers I have ever met lived in the states that are the least religious (lightest green) on the map I shared.  Sometimes, being surrounded by a more hostile culture helps Christians look to their faith and realize it's worth defending and living for.  

     Newton's third law of physics tells us, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."  As time has moved forward and wrong things have happened, true Christian people have made a stand against them, and formed movements that have glorified the Lord.  We now have organizations like Compassion International, Focus on the Family, the HSLDA, Answers in Genesis, among others.  These godly movements weren't part of life in the past, and they illustrate that genuine Christian people are as strong today as they ever were.  The things we wrestle with might look a little different, but we are the same.  We also have a lot of wonderful resources Christians in the past didn't have, and we can be grateful for that.  

     There is an additional aspect of this as well.   I began this post talking about things I was told at church.  The first mistake in our youth pastor's talk was that he focused on America.  He was saying how America was going down the tubes.  We need to qualify statements like that by broadening them to look at the whole world.  The whole world has problems, and America is part of the world, so it has problems too.  When I would hear people complain about America being in so much trouble while I was growing up, I used to think that this must mean other countries were wonderful compared to us.  Having traveled internationally, I can say this is not the case.  Humans are humans.  All are equally loved by God, equally depraved by sin, and equally redeemable by faith in Christ (but not everyone is redeemed, because not everyone has chosen His way).  Americans complaining about the present is unique to us.  We are a nation that was founded on religious freedom, and can see how far we've fallen.  Most other nations can't make that comparison, because they weren't founded on those ideals.  The Pilgrims came to our shores in 1620, in order to have the freedom to worship God as they saw fit.  At that time, they weren't attempting to create a nation.  They just wanted that freedom.  Over 150 years later, the United States declared independence from Britain.  Some of the founding fathers of our nation were Christians, but many were not.  Several were Deists.  The Bill of rights in our Constitution grants Americans freedom of religion.  The exact wording of the first amendment is as follows: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.  Our nation was, and has continued to be, a place of religious liberty.  Christianity has played a big part in it.  As time has moved on, we have seen wars on our liberties, and very unchristian things happen.  This is to be expected.  We live in a world that never knew God.  We're part of a country that has been blessed for over two-hundred years, and we pray for God's blessing to continue.  We have to look at our country as one that was started with Christianity in mind  but was full of people who didn't know God, even at the beginning.  At the present, it feels like we're fighting for our liberties in ways we never have before, and we need to pray!

     In 2009, then-President Barak Obama made the claim the the US is no longer a Christian nation.  Many were outraged.  I disagree with the motive behind his statement, but I heard an amazing sermon shortly after this that helped my perspective on this.   I heard the sermon at a church I was visiting in the course of doing ministry in a different city than usual.  The pastor--a Conservative Christian man who also happened to be African-American--built the case that America has never been a Christian nation.  He pointed out that there were Christians in our nation's founding, and there are many Christian principles in the fabric of our culture, but there have been non-Christians and their ideals as well.  He brought up many travesties in our history (IE: slavery), as well as present (IE: abortion), and pointed out that our nation has never been exclusively Christian.  But then he built an even better case.  He said there is a Christian nation within the US--and in every nation.  God's kingdom on earth today exists in the Christian people, and there are definitely Christian people in America.  We are that Christian nation.  It was such a beautiful message that touched my heart and left me in tears.  It left me with a deeper love of my fellow believers, and a longing for what waits beyond this life. 

     The past wasn't as rosy as we paint it, and the present has its own issues.  What about the future?  Are things getting worse?  Or are they getting better?  What's going to happen?  

     Here are some things we are told in the Bible:

     Creation was plunged into corruption when sin entered the world.  Romans 5:12 tells us, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin...  A few chapters later, in Romans 8:22-23, we're told that all of creation is groaning because of the effects of sin.  Sin has affected our world since Genesis 3.  Since Adam and Eve ate that fruit, there has never been a perfect time in history.  

     Believers from different times have felt alone, but God has always had a remnant.  

     David wrote in Psalm 42:9-11, I will say unto God my rock, Why has thou forgotten me?  Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?  As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me while they say daily to me, Where is thy God?  Why are thou cast down, O my soul?  and why are thou disquieted within me?  Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my  countenance, and my God.  We know David had trusted friends in his life, from studying his life in First and Second Samuel.  But he felt alone in his walk with the Lord, as we can gather from Psalm 42.  

     Another believer who felt alone was Elijah.  He did great things for the Lord (First Kings 17-18), but when his life was threatened, he ran, and felt totally alone.  He despaired and wanted to die.  In First Kings 19:10 (and again in verse 14) he laments, I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of armies; for the sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they have sought to take my life.  In verse 18, God tells Elijah he isn't the only one left: Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.  Elijah needed a wake-up call to remind him he wasn't the only faithful believer.  God always has a Remnant.  The same is true today.  

     As we wait for Christ's return, our hope shouldn't be in this world getting better.  On the other hand, it isn't helpful to sit around complaining about evil.  Our focus should be on what is eternal.  In the Apostle Paul's last letter, Second Timothy, he warns his protégé:  For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,  and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  But as for you, use self-restraint in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  As for that part about people not wanting sound doctrine and finding preachers who teach to their liking, that sounds a lot like today--but it has sounded that way a lot in the history of Christianity.  What are we, in the present, to do?  The rest of that passage tells us.  We're to use self-restraint, endure the difficulties, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill the ministry God has given us.  That's what I wish our youth leader had urged us, instead of making negative comments about the time in which we were living.  No one can help when God chose to create them.  If God had given me a choice, I very highly doubt I would have picked to be born when I was.  But God knows best.  He has a plan for you and for me in the time in which He has placed us.  Acts 17:26-27 assures us that God places us in the boundaries of time and space that we are in order for us to know Him.  ...having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God.  He could have put me in another city, state or nation, and in an entirely different time in history, but He put me where and when He did because He knew it was the very best place and time for me to know Him.  For me, the very best time to come to know Christ as my personal Lord and Savior was on February 7, 1987 in Riverside California, USA.  That's when and where I was saved.  No other time or place would have been as good for me, according to scripture.  Even where I am now, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2020, is the best time and place for my walk with the Lord right now.  It is so easy to think we belong in another time or place, especially when the past is painted as being idealistic, but God's word says differently.  God also has plans He created for you to fulfill (Ephesians 2:10).  He knew what He was doing when he created you in the time and place He did.  You are not defined by your time in history--let history be defined by you!

     All times in history have had their difficulties.  Since Jesus ascended, Christians have longed for His return.  They have expected it in their lifetime, as many do today.  We are right to long for it (Even so, come, Lord Jesus, Revelation 22:20). , but also must remember that God isn't slack concerning His promise to return, but is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to Him (First Peter 3:9).  I can imagine Christians during some dark times in history begging Jesus to come back, just as I sometimes do today, but I'm glad God answered their prayer with a no, because those of us alive today wouldn't have had the chance to be part of His kingdom if He had come back then.  The same might be true now.  There might be some brothers and sisters of ours that we will spend eternity with, but they haven't been physically born yet, and if Jesus came back now, they'd never have a chance.  We just don't know.  We have to rest in His Sovereignty.  

     We don't know what the rest of history looks like, exactly.  But we do know Jesus is coming back, and we will be with Him forever, as well as all believers who came before and after us.  We are contending with a world that never knew God.  Luke 21 gives us some clues, but verse 28 is the biggest encouragement  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.  American history has given us a bit of a reprieve, but it has never been perfect.  We are reminded that we are citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:20).  We are to do our duty to preach the gospel.  Remember what Jesus said, And this gospel of the kingdom must be announced to the whole world, as a witness to all the nations. Then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14).  Maybe you will lead that last soul to salvation so Christ's family is complete and He can return!  Let's get busy!