Let God Be Magnified

Everyone –

With the spotlight on the Obama campaign there has been more and more information about the “Black Liberation Theology” that has surfaced. It is essentially a radical theology that suggests that God is the God of the “oppressed”, i.e. blacks, or he is a God of racism. James Cone, who is considered the founder of this theology, describes a bit of this theology:

Excerpts From: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64828

”’The black theologian must reject any conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing God as a God of all peoples. Either God is identified with the oppressed to the point that their experience becomes God’s experience, or God is a God of racism,’ writes Cone in his defining book, Black Theology of Liberation. The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed condition God’s own condition. This is the essence of the biblical revelation,’ Cone argues.”

Pastor Wright, of Obama’s church, is in the spotlight as a leader of this movement. I feel terrible for the people of the black community who don’t subscribe to this radical theology (which is not Biblical) because they are labeled as haters of themselves and the black community by Wright:

”’Wright denounces ‘colored preachers’ who don’t subscribe to black liberation theology as people who “hate themselves, who hate Black people, who desperately want to be white and who write and say stupid things in public to make ‘Masa’ feel safer.”’”

“’The April 2007 Trumpet features an article by black-liberation theologian Obery M. Hendricks Jr., who attacks conservative Christians as emulating those who killed Jesus, rather than following the practice of Jesus himself,’ notes Kurtz.

‘Many good church-going folk have been deluded into behaving like modern-day Pharisees and Sadducees when they think they’re really being good Christians,’ contends Hendricks, who writes in Trumpet that these believers have become ‘like the false prophets of Baal.

‘George Bush and his unwitting prophets of Baal may well prove to be the foremost distorters of the true practice of Jesus’ Gospel of peace, liberation, and love ever seen in modern times,’ writes Hendricks.”

Finally, Barack Obama said something that was rather interesting and is a growing concern within the Christian community. That is, that there is more than one way to heaven and therefore to God. There is the false belief circulating that all paths lead to God. “God is loving, God is kind, He would never reject those who earnestly seek Him even if it is through Mormonism or Islam or Buddhism,” they say. But they’re wrong.

Obama said in a 2004 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times that:

“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

This same sentiment was echoed by Joel Osteen in a July 2005 interview with Larry King who refused to stand up for Jesus and proclaim Him the only way to God:

“KING: What if you’re Jewish or Muslim, you don’t accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know …

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They’re wrong, aren’t they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don’t know if I believe they’re wrong. I believe here’s what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God with judge a person’s heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don’t know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seen their sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.”

The root of the issue is not Black Liberation Theology specifically but the lack of conviction that we as Christians have toward God, generally. We are afraid to stand on God’s Word because we feel that we be made fun of or be perceived as “closed-minded” or “right-wingers” or out of touch with the World. What is wrong with ascribing glory to the Son and proclaiming Him the way to the Father? He says it of Himself:

“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.’” – John 14:6

Or how can we deny the Word of God when it is written of Jesus:

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12

So Black Liberation Theology accentuates the innate problem that exists in mainstream Christianity. We are afraid to stand up to these people who distort the Gospel to their own desires (2 Timothy 4:3-5) and therefore dishonor and disgrace God Himself. If we allow this theology to perpetuate itself unhindered within our society long enough it becomes truth. A lie that is allowed to live long enough eventually becomes truth.

I think the root of our issue that we don’t know our own Scriptures well enough to defend. We resort to “well I think” or “I feel” theology rather than being able to find Scripture like John 14:6 or Acts 4:12. What we say or think doesn’t matter. What He says is everything.

Do you believe what the Word of God says? Or to you is it outdated and not current with today? If you believe in what it says, which I hope you do, then you should feel confident in standing on the Rock which is the Word of God given to man. It wasn’t just given to us to make us feel good. Among other things, it was given to us to show us what God desires in no uncertain terms. If you believe, as the Scriptures plainly say, that only through Jesus will we ever be reconciled to God and therefore have eternal fellowship with Him then tell others that confidently. The Word of God can be rejected by men (and it will) but it can never be defeated. We see this when Jesus is revealed in all His glory at the end of the Tribulation where He is described as having a sharp sword coming out of His mouth which is the Word of God:

“From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. … And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” – Revelation 19:15,21

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of God stands forever.” – Isaiah 40:8

I encourage you to know His Word. He desires that we know it (Jesus to the Father: “Your Word is truth…” – John 17:17). He is worth defending. He is worth knowing about. He is worth everything. He gave everything so that we might be with Him where He is so that we may always be with the Lord. Don’t be ashamed of Him. Stand up to the bullies who distort His truth. Build your house upon the rock rather than the sand so that when the hard times come (and they will) you may stand firm knowing that the truth that is revealed to you is THE truth. Fear God and not men.

Later Eriek

Everyone –

My last blog posting contained this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“We must learn to know the Scriptures again, as the Reformers and our fathers knew them. We must not grudge the time and the work it takes. We must know the Scriptures first and foremost for the sake of our salvation. But besides this, there are ample reasons that make this requirement exceedingly urgent. How, for example, shall we ever attain certainty and confidence in our personal and church activity if we do not stand on solid Biblical ground? It is not our heart that determines our course, but God’s Word. But who in this day has any proper understanding of the need for scriptural proof? How often we hear innumerable arguments ‘from life’ and ‘from experience’ put forward as the basis for most crucial decisions, but the argument of Scripture is missing. And this authority would perhaps point exactly in the opposite direction. It is not surprising, of course, that the person who attempts to cast discredit upon their wisdom should be the one who himself does not seriously read, know, and study the Scriptures. But one who will not learn to handle the Bible for himself is not an evangelical Christian.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Life Together,” pp. 54,55

He makes a convicting point in his book about Christian love and how it can only be defined through the Word of God. For God has left us an example in Jesus Christ, as well as the Apostles, of the love that is spiritual rather than human. He surmises, correctly, that we cannot not truly love the way Christ loves by coming to the definition on our own terms. Man is darkened by sin and therefore his thoughts, actions, and deeds are all muddied by that sin. No one seeks after God….no not one. And if man is darkened, then the Word of God is foolishness to him before God, through the Holy Spirit, quickens him and allows him to cry out to God and receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. It is only at that time that the Word makes sense (..”combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words…”).

So why don’t we read it more?

In the current chapter I’m reading on “Community” and the blessings of that fellowship in true Christian love. And this love can only be defined in God’s Word. And if we don’t read God’s Word then we don’t know how to really love and therefore the love with which we end up loving is conceived in the mind of man which will, by definition, falls short of the love God.

In the following statements, Bonhoeffer shows just how important the Word of God is for it defines who we ought to be and why. I thought you might glean some blessings from them. Enjoy:

“…the Christian is the man who no longer seeks his salvation, his deliverance, his justification in himself, but in Jesus Christ alone. He knows that God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him guilty, even when he does not feel his guilt, and God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces him not guilty and righteous, even when he does not feel that he is righteous at all. The Christian no longer lives of himself, by his own claims and his own justification, but by God’s claims and God’s justification. He lives wholly by God’s Word pronounced upon him, whether that Word declares him guilty or innocent.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Life Together,” pp. 21-22

“But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When once person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others.” – Bonhoeffer, p. 22

“What love is, only Christ tells in his Word. Contrary to all my own opinions and convictions, Jesus Christ will tell me what love toward the brethren really is. Therefore, spiritual love is bound solely to the Word of Jesus Christ. Where Christ bids me to maintain fellowship for the sake of love, I will maintain it. Where his truth enjoins me to dissolve a fellowship for love’s sake, there I will dissolve it, despite all the protests of my human love. Because spiritual love does not desire but rather serves, it loves an enemy as a brother. It originates neither in the brother nor in the enemy but in Christ from his Word. Human love can never understand spiritual love, for spiritual love is from above; it is something completely strange, new, and incomprehensible to all earthly love.” – Bonhoeffer, p. 35

“As only Christ can speak to me in such a way that I may be saved, so others, too, can be saved only by Christ himself. This means that I must release the other person from every attempt of mine to regulate, coerce, and dominate him with my love. The other person needs to retain his independence of me; to loved for what he is, as one for whom Christ became man, died, and rose again, for whom Christ bought forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Because Christ has long since acted decisively for my brother, before I could begin to act, I must leave him his freedom in Christ’s; I must meet him only as the person that he already is in Christ’s eyes. This is the meaning of the proposition that we can meet others only through the mediation of Christ. Human love constructs its own image of the other person, of what he is and what he should become. It takes the life of the other person into its own hands. Spiritual love recognizes the true image of the other person which he has received from Jesus Christ; the image that Jesus Christ himself embodied and would stamp upon all men. Therefore, spiritual love proves itself in that everything it says and does commends Christ.” – Bonhoeffer, p. 36

Later Eriek

Everyone –

“Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions.” – 1 Kings 10:1

If you could ask for one thing of the Lord what would it be?

That was the opportunity presented to Solomon shortly after the death of his father, David. In a dream God came to Solomon and told him, “Ask what you wish me to give you.” (1 Kings 3:5c). After praising Him and relating to Him his concern, Solomon asks,

“…give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” – 1 Kings 3:10a

What was God’s response? It was one filled with joy and honor as of a proud Father:

“Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.” – 1 Kings 3:11,12

It was this wisdom that the Queen of Sheba came to observe. She had heard about it but had come from afar to see for herself if it was true. But what she found was not exactly as she had expected – it was far more:

“Then she said to the king, ‘It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report that I heard.’” – 1 Kings 10:6,7

But when she says “your words and wisdom” she really means, “God’s words and wisdom” for it was He who gave it to Solomon. The words that he spoke and the wisdom he possessed were all a gift of God and from God. So when we read in the book of Proverbs the insight of Solomon we are reading the true instruction from God. For Solomon’s words are inspired as the Scriptures plainly prove:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16,17

I think that the purpose and effect of God’s word is stated nicely by Solomon:

“My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.” – Proverbs 2:1-5

It is any wonder, then, that those who heard the very instruction of God were blessed as the Queen of Sheba pointed out?:

“How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom.” – 1 Kings 10:8

Can we draw a parallel between the servants of Solomon and us today? For if they were blessed by listening to Solomon – God’s inspired instruction – should we be any less blessed through reading His recorded Word?

Notice two things about the servants and then compare them to yourself:

1. They stood before him continually

- these men were constantly in “the Word” through Solomon. Can you say that about yourself? Do you ever wonder why you feel spiritually empty or distant from God? Have you considered that you haven’t spent enough time in His presence through His Word? These men were there CONSISTENTLY. How often are you there?

2. They heard the wisdom

- notice they didn’t say, “listened to the wisdom.” There is a difference here. These men not only listened to it but they applied and absorbed it – they heard it. It is not enough to check the box and read God’s Word (listening). We are instructed to dwell upon the word of the Lord (hearing):

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” – Colossians 3:16

In one of the final prayers that Jesus made to the Father on our behalf He asked Him for this:

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” – John 17:17

One of Jesus’ final requests and desires was that we, His servants and followers, might dwell upon the Word of God for instruction, guidance, and righteousness. By pursuing these we will “renew our mind” and make our ways His ways and thereby, step by step, become more Christ-like in our attitudes, thoughts, and actions. It was the desire of our Lord that we read His word – should we then deny our Lord and reject His desire?

I’ll leave you with this final thought by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a German Christian whose life was ruled by this overwhelming truth: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged for his witness for Christ by the Germans on Sunday, April 9, 1945. He was a true man of Christ and he had this to say about the study of God’s Word:

“We must learn to know the Scriptures again, as the Reformers and our fathers knew them. We must not grudge the time and the work it takes. We must know the Scriptures first and foremost for the sake of our salvation. But besides this, there are ample reasons that make this requirement exceedingly urgent. How, for example, shall we ever attain certainty and confidence in our personal and church activity if we do not stand on solid Biblical ground? It is not our heart that determines our course, but God’s Word. But who in this day has any proper understanding of the need for scriptural proof? How often we hear innumerable arguments ‘from life’ and ‘from experience’ put forward as the basis for most crucial decisions, but the argument of Scripture is missing. And this authority would perhaps point exactly in the opposite direction. It is not surprising, of course, that the person who attempts to cast discredit upon their wisdom should be the one who himself does not seriously read, know, and study the Scriptures. But one who will not learn to handle the Bible for himself is not an evangelical Christian.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Life Together,” pp. 54,55

Later Eriek