October 31, 1517 - A New Beginning

OCTOBER 31, 1517 - A NEW BEGINNING 

I use Google Calendar all the time, on all my devices.  Most of the time it’s great, seamlessly interfacing across computer, phone and tablet.  However, one thing bothers me:  it annoyingly auto-populates with holidays I don’t care anything about, like April Fools Day, or St Patricks Day, or Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday (Why should I care? Even before generic “President’s Day, we never celebrated his birthday, didn’t and still don’t even get a day off for it.) and doesn’t auto-populate the really important days - like Groundhog Day, my wife’s birthday, our anniversary - or the first day of the rifle season for deer hunting.

And believe it or not, on today’s date, what do you think it auto-populates?  You guessed it - Halloween.  Seriously?  Halloween.  “All Hallows Eve,” celebrated by Satanists, witches and druids all over the world, harkening back to “Samhain,” the celebration of death.  Doesn’t even show “All Hallows” or All Saints’ Day on November 1.  I mean, if it’s gonna show “All Hallow’s EVE,” don’t you think it ought to show “All Hallow’s DAY as well?  I mean, it wouldn’t post Christmas EVE without posting Christmas DAY, right?  Or New Year’s EVE and not New Year’s DAY?

But no.  I think what it means to remind me of is that I need to be ready, because tonight will come an army of little candy-grubbing urchins to my door, most of whom don’t even have the courtesy to say, “Trick or Treat!” anymore.  And their costumes have really gotten gross.  Not scary, just gross.  The really scary ones are the ones who look like they are pretty close to college age.  I mean, isn’t there an age limit to this trick or treat nonsense?

But I digress…

What is really unfortunate is that Google missed the opportunity to post the celebration of one of the truly earth-shattering events in history.  As you may be aware, today marks exactly (give or take a few days) 505 years since the posting of Dr. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses on the door of the church connected with Wittenberg Castle in Germany.  And that event we consider to be the date of the beginning of a cultural and religious upheaval that we refer to as the Reformation - a turbulent period that marked a “new beginning” for the worship of God and for the spread of the gospel throughout the world.

So I would ask your indulgence (pun intended) as we reflect together on that event, and what it has meant for all of us.

A few years back, I read a remarkable book on Luther by Eric Metaxis, in which he debunks a number of the misconceptions surrounding Luther’s life, including how this event actually went down.

The picture we often have in our minds is of an angry Luther, defacing the church doors as he is defiantly pounding nails through a sheaf of paper containing a kind of manifesto for the Protestant Reformation.  We see him sort of throwing down the theological gauntlet in the face of Pope Leo X, saying “Bring it on, Pope.  Let’s duke it out!”

The reality, according to Metaxis, was far different.

In order to understand this event, a little background is in order.

In the summer of 1505, Martin Luther was a 22 year old law student at the University of Erfurt, when he happened to be traveling on foot near the village of Stotternheim during a severe thunderstorm.  Caught in the open, with lightning crashing all around, and fearing for his life, he cried out to St. Anne - patron saint of miners (Luther’s father was a miner) - and vowed, “Help me, St. Anne!  I will become a monk!”   

Realizing the serious nature of making a vow to God, he entered the Augustinian monastery just a few weeks later, abandoning his study of law, much to his father’s dismay.  And he determined to be as good a monk as possible and gave himself wholeheartedly to preparation for ordination.  Unusual for a monk of his day, he also devoted himself to studying the word of God, and would pore over it for hours, mainly seeking to understand how he - or anyone - could possibly gain approval from a holy and just God.  

Keenly aware of the vast chasm between himself and God, and fearing God’s wrath, Luther would spend hours in the confessional, confessing not only failures of deed, but of thought, word and motive.  He would leave the confessional, feeling that he had been forgiven of these things, only to remember another instance where he had held a resentful attitude toward another brother, or been grudging in getting up early for prayers.  So he would be again crushed with guilt.  What he longed for was a clear conscience before God, but he felt his sins created a yawning, impassable gulf between him and the Lord.

He wrote his experience: 

“My conscience would not give me certainty, but I always doubted and said, ‘You didn’t do that right.  You weren’t contrite enough.  You left that out of your confession.’  The more I tried to remedy an uncertain, weak and troubled conscience with human traditions, the more daily I found it more uncertain, weaker and more troubled.” 

According to Dr. Stephen Nichols, President of Reformation Bible College, Luther entered the monastery “Looking for peace and rest, [but] found instead strife and turmoil.  Luther tried white-knuckling his way to heaven.  Later he would say that if ever a monk could get to heaven by monkery, he would be that monk.”

In 1510, Luther was sent on a representative mission to Rome, walking the entire way.  As an ardent devotee of the Church, the prospect of seeing this holiest of Christian cities thrilled him.  Following his arrival, however, he discovered firsthand how corrupt and irreverent the Church had become.  He observed how the priests would ramble through Masses as quickly as possible, competing to see who could say the most Masses in a day.  Church leaders, contrary to Church decrees, kept women or visited prostitutes.  Priests and leaders looked down on laymen, viewing them as ignorant vermin to be used rather than shepherded.  Political shenanigans abounded, and the Bible was virtually ignored.  The common people couldn’t read it, and the educated ones cared more for the writings of Aristotle and the Scholastics than bothering to study the Bible itself.

Thoroughly discouraged, Luther returned to Germany. Having now been appointed as head of the theological faculty at the University of Wittenberg, he continued to search the scriptures for an explanation for his own Anfechtungen, struggles that included bouts with deep depression.  His struggle was between man and a holy God, which is a struggle man of himself can never win.

Of that period, he later wrote:

“Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience.  I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction.  I did not love…yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God…Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.  Nevertheless I beat importunately upon St. Paul at that place [referring to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans 1:17] most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.”

Several years passed as Luther continued his struggle, and one day early in 1517, as he wrestled with the meaning of that passage - “The righteous shall live by faith.” - he said:

“At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed,’ as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’  There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely, by faith…Here I felt I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates….and I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word, ‘righteousness of God.’  Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise.”

That realization - that “aha” moment dramatically changed Martin Luther, and the course of his life, and the course of world history.

Later that year, a man showed up in the environs around Wittenberg by the name of Johannes Tetzel.  Tetzel was on a joint mission from Rome and from Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz to raise money both for the building of St. Peter’s in Rome and for Albrecht’s bishopric.  The means by which he would raise money for these projects was through the selling of indulgences.  Indulgences were legal papers offered for sale, authorized by the Pope, by which an individual - or someone he designated, usually a deceased family member - could be absolved of a certain amount or degree of his sins, and thus speed his or their way to heaven.  It worked great!  Hearing his little jingle, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs,” people would ante up with money they could otherwise have used for the care of their living families, knowing they had done a good deed for the church and for the departed.  Listen to this pitch:

“Listen now, God and St. Peter call you.  Consider the salvation of your souls and those of your loved one departed.  You priest, you noble, you merchant, you virgin, you matron, you youth, you old man, enter now into your church, which is the Church of St. Peter. Visit the most holy cross erected before you and ever imploring you.  Have you considered that you are lashed in a furious tempest amid the temptations and dangers of the world, and that you do not know whether you can reach the haven, not of your mortal body, but of your immortal soul?  Consider that all who are contrite and have confessed and made contribution will receive complete remission of all their sins.  Listen to the voices of your dear dead relatives and friends, beseeching you and saying, “Pity us, pity us.  We are dire torment from which you can redeem us for a pittance.”  Do you not wish to?  Open your ears. Hear the father saying to his son, the mother to her daughter, “We bore you, nourished you, brought you up, left you our fortunes, and you are so cruel and hard that now you are not willing for so little to set us free. Will you let us lie here in flames?  Will you delay our promised glory?”

Wow!  How could you turn down such an appeal from none less than an emissary of the Pope? Why would you?  It was win-win for everyone.

Except for the fact that this idea is pure fiction emanating from Leo X’s inflated notions of his own authority.  It was pure manipulation for the sake of raising funds, cloaked in pious-sounding jargon, and Luther saw right through it.

Deeply concerned about this state of affairs, but still confident that neither the Pope nor Archbishop had any idea what was happening, Luther wrote, and on October 31, 1517 posted, a very humble letter to Archbishop Albrecht, letting him know that Tetzel - and others - were peddling these indulgences in his name.  Assuming the archbishop would be at least concerned, and hopefully shocked, he included 95 numbered statements - theses - showing why selling indulgences misrepresented both the Savior and His Church, which of course included Archbishop Albrecht.

At the same time, he sent a copy of the theses to a trusted friend, Johannes Lang, and some others.  A printer in Nuremberg by the name of Christopher Scheurl had the opportunity to read these 95 “theses,” and without Luther’s knowledge or permission, took it upon himself to print them for circulation in Nuremberg. (Remember, the printing press had been relatively recently invented, making Scheurl something like the Julian Assange of his day.)  Others reprinted them, so that within two weeks they were all over Germany.  In short order, Luther came from relative obscurity to being something of a celebrity, as his message resonated with people of all walks of life, who had known something was amiss with the Church.  Now they sensed they had a champion who understood their concerns and would represent them courageously.

Albrecht on the other hand, not knowing how to respond to Luther’s letter and theses, consulted with some of his  local academicians, who basically shrugged and suggested he forward Luther’s letter and theses sent on to Pope Leo, which he did.  And that is when the “excrement hit the propeller.”  

Without going into greater detail, it must be said that Luther continued to remain humble and conciliatory, strongly believing in the holiness and reasonableness of the Pope, and eagerly trying to help him see the need for reforms.  But it all came down to the authority of the enterprise that the Church had become, even while Luther gained nearly overnight popularity and support in Germany and beyond.  People disconnected from him picked up his cause as their own, and likewise sought the reform of the church.  His courage served to encourage others.

Eventually, when it became evident that Luther’s teaching on the subject was stirring up a hornet’s nest of German resistance to the authority of the Church, the Pope excommunicated Luther.  Luther in response excommunicated the Pope, believing he had as much or more authority to excommunicate a Pope who would not support the Bible, as the Pope had to excommunicate a rogue monk.  This of course led theologians to take sides - and even heads of state, as in the case of Henry VIII of England.  And so the Reformation of the Church began…

But what of that notorious castle door in Wittenberg?  The reality is that the church door was where local notices were posted, and likely a couple of weeks into November, Luther posted - not sure he used nails, could’ve been super glue - his 95 Theses as an invitation to a debate with Tetzel and his own academic colleagues over the validity what Tetzel was peddling.  That debate did not occur for some months, and when it did, it occurred primarily in printed form, Tetzel coming up with his own Theses to counter Luther’s, and Luther countering Tetzel’s counters, and so on.

Meanwhile, the spread of Luther’s theses throughout Germany brought the issue of “how people are saved” to the front of everyone’s thinking.  Previously accepted notions of salvation by satisfying the church through good works, gave way to the biblical teaching of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, by the authority of the inspired Scriptures alone.  These became known as the five “solas” of the Reformation:  Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria and Sola Scriptura.

So, what of it?  Besides being a nasty chapter in Church relations, what came of all this?  Luther’s concerns had been expressed similarly by John Hus a century before.  For suggesting that the people needed to read scripture for themselves, he was burned at the stake.  For similar reasons, John Wycliffe’s bones had been dug up, burned and thrown in the river some 50 years after his death.  Yet these reformers set the stage from which Luther inadvertently launched sweeping changes, including the translation of the Bible into German and English.  The availability of the printing press made their work available to all men, not just the clergy.  By reading it, everyday men and women began to rely on its teaching firsthand to give them access to God.  So here are a couple of things for which we can all be thankful, Protestant and Catholic alike:

1. The Bible in the language of the people, printed and available.  Every time you open your Bible, have a quiet time or hear someone read the Bible in your language, you owe a debt of gratitude to Martin Luther and other Reformers, many of whom gave their lives for the notion of having the Bible in the common language.  
2. The recovery of the gospel, which had been obscured by “scholastic” commentary and for all practical purposes, lost.  With the availability of the Bible, people who had previously never read the words, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” now discovered the wonderful truth that we celebrate every Lord’s Day - the truth that, “for our sake He made Him to be sin, Who knew no sin, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God,”  and “by works of the Law shall no one be saved.”                                                          
3. Luther’s great statement to that effect, Simul Justus et Peccatore - at the same time justified and a sinner - conveys the biblical position on this.  Prior to this, the church had for many years confused means and ends.  Good works are taught in scripture as vital, but as the product of salvation, not the means to it.  The Reformers thankfully recovered this.
4. Through both Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Christ’s church was over time  reformed, excesses purged, doctrines clarified - for the glory of God and the spread of the good news of the gospel.

So when the urchins arrive at your door tonight, turn out the lights, go hide and read your Bible.

Here's What I Heard

In the wake of the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Washington has, predictably, been thrown into political chaos.  We are just 6 weeks out from a Presidential election the Democrats are convinced they can win, while the Republicans find themselves in a moment of enormous opportunity and advantage.  The possibility is very real that the Republican Senate will have occasion to confirm the nominee of the Republican President to the highest court in the land, effectively and significantly altering the political composition of the bench for decades to come.

 

Such a reality would seriously hinder the current political agenda of an increasingly radical Democratic Party, and affect the future of critical issues such as Obamacare, abortion-on-demand, gender fluidity, the definitions of marriage and family, gun ownership, open borders and choice in education, to name just a few.  What is at stake here is the very nature and fabric of our American society.  What is at stake is the very definition of what future generations will understand it means to be “American.”

 

The Democrats’ (rather disingenuous) contention, of course, is that it is inappropriate for a sitting President - no, for THIS sitting President - to nominate, and for a Senate controlled by the opposing party to appoint, a Supreme Court Justice this close to an election.  Of course, they imply, WE holier-than-thou Dems would NEVER do such a thing!  Right.  And if you believe that, have I got such a (Green New) deal for you! 

 

Such is the uproar that, over the weekend, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued both a call to arms and a threat.  First, he urged, “We (Democrats) HAVE to get the majority.”  Implication:  During the upcoming election, it is more important than ever for we Dems to win back both houses.  Then, provided we can forestall a vote on President Trump’s nominee, we will have the opportunity to defeat her (or, more unlikely, him).  Second, he said, should the Republicans proceed with such an evil and unfair tactic as nominating and confirming a replacement for RBG prior to the election, AND if the Dems successfully win the majority in both houses, “Everything is on the table.”

 

Implication:  Having a majority in both houses, we can then move to restructure the Court, so that there will be twelve Justices rather than nine, and we will load the three additive seats with Justices who will interpret or even confirm a rewrite of the US Constitution according to our “progressive” agenda and vision for the future of this country.  “You want to play hardball?” he is suggesting, “We can and will stuff that ball down your collective throats.”

 

So what did I hear Senator Schumer say?  Schumer actually threatened the American electorate.  How?  Well, it was the electorate who voted Trump into office; it was the electorate who voted in a Republican majority in the Senate.  And the consensus of the electorate was that they voted as they did largely to see a conservative President nominate, and a conservative Senate confirm, conservative Supreme Court Justices.  Now that RBG has gone to her eternal reward, to them it matters not that she did so close to November 3rd; the electorate’s wishes remain that the President for whom they voted would carry out his Constitutional privilege - and responsibility - to name her replacement while he is in office.

 

Should these elected officials carry out the wishes of those who elected them, and should the Republicans lose the Executive and Legislative Branches in the upcoming election, Schumer says, “Boy will you be sorry!”  That was a threat.  And it was a threat aimed not only at his political opponents, but at the populace who vote, and at their children, and grandchildren for generations to come.  Personally, I don’t take to being threatened by my elected officials.  And I will make my reply known in the polling booth in just six weeks’ time.

Where Have We Seen This Before?

Observing the behavior of the “demonstrators” the past three months in multiple U.S. cities, tactics have been in evidence that rang certain bells for me.  Clearly there is more going on than reaction to heavy-handed, racially-targeted policing.  Whether or not these “demonstrations” began as legitimate expressions of indignation in response to perceptions of injustice, they have been hijacked by others with another agenda.  And this kind of opportunism reminded me of methods used by Bolsheviks during the Revolution of 1917.  So I went back to one of the books in my library to refresh my memory.

In Revolution in Russia, (Viking Press, 1967), Edward Pearlstien quotes extensively from reports published in the then-extant New York Herald and the New York Tribune to chronicle the progress of the Russian revolution.  It has been chilling reading, in light of current events.  Here is some of what I re-discovered (This is rather a long one, folks, so grab a cup of Joe):

In Spring, 1917, a Socialist Revolution in Russia had been progressing, more or less, for 18 years, having begun with student riots in 1899, which had in turn precipitated labor strikes and workers’ riots which began in 1905.  There had been increasing criticism of the Russian upper classes, most notably of the Emperor himself, Tsar Nicholas II, which culminated in his abdication in 1917, at the height of the “Great War,” commonly known as World War I.  

There followed several years of chaos, as disparate groups vied for power.  Most notable among these groups was the Bolshevik socialist movement, led by V.I. Lenin.  Lenin, a student of the philosophies of Karl Marx, was convinced the road to power lay in harnessing the dissatisfaction of the working classes by planting within them the hope of a brighter future through social egalitarianism, or socialism.  He ceaselessly agitated workers, soldiers and students, attempting to convince them of their victimhood and of the glories of socialism.

Though the aristocratic “bourgeoisie,” or educated upper classes, attempted to introduce democratic reforms in the form of a Provisional Government, Lenin would have none of it.  He considered the democratic freedoms offered by the Provisional Government to be simply throwing a bone to the “oppressed masses,” and as such represented a “halfway revolution,” not the complete overthrow of capitalism he envisioned and championed, not only in Russia, but throughout Europe and the world.

In a speech at the railway station in Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) on April 14, 1917, Lenin said, 

“The piratical imperialist war (WW1) is the beginning of civil war throughout Europe….The hour is not far distant when…the peoples will turn their arms against                    their own capitalist exploiters…The worldwide socialist revolution has already dawned…Any day now the whole of European capitalism may crash…Long live the worldwide socialist revolution!”

Lenin made his meaning clear the next day at a meeting of Bolsheviks: “Without the overthrow of capital is is impossible to conclude the war with a real democratic, non-oppressive peace.” He outlined his demands and those of the Bolsheviks for the “new Russia”:

“Abolition of the police, the army, the bureaucracy.

Confiscation of all private lands.

Nationalization of all lands in the country.

Immediate merger of all the banks (and the wealth they controlled) in the country into one general national bank, over which the [Bolsheviks] would have control.

[The socialist government] would be placed in control of all social production and distribution of goods.”

In the end, the Bolsheviks had their way, and replaced the police with brutal “enforcers” of socialist dogma, called the Cheka - forerunner of the KGB.  Riots and civil war continued for 3 years, but the Bolsheviks - who rebranded themselves Communists - gained control through ruthless and murderous suppression of all opponents.  The result?

  

“By 1920, Petrograd and much of Russia lay in ruins.”  A report by a Professor Zeidler, who was formerly head of the Petrograd Red Cross, but then a refugee in Finland, recorded these observations: 

“Death stalks on every side waiting for winter to aid in the grim work of mowing down the silent, hungry, sick and dying thousands.  With streets and houses choked with filth that is already spreading spotted and intermittent typhus, the cold weather will finish the task with pneumonia and abdominal typhus.

“The fuel situation was never so bad.  Wooden houses have been torn down for fuel.  The material is distributed equally among the population, but during the nights the more energetic citizens steal the quota of wood from the others.

“The woodyards have been nationalized.  One of these has been given up entirely to the manufacture of 30,000 coffins monthly.  But even this number is insufficient.  People have not time to bury the dead, and the bodies take their turn, waiting several days.

“Only one important tramway [streetcar railway] line is in operation, and that runs to a suburb.  Attempts to repair the streets, which are full of holes owing to bursting water pipes, have failed because the wood blocks for pavement have been stolen for fuel.  Lighting is allowed only two half hours each day.  Kerosene costs 450 rubles a pound. [At the time the average worker earned perhaps 100 rubles per month.]  There are no candles.  Most homes are in darkness.  There is no means of transporting things by waterway, because the barges were long since demolished for fuel.  The railway transportation is devoted almost exclusively to the distribution of flour.

“Only 200 people are permitted to leave Petrograd daily by passenger train.  Workmen receive half a pound of bread daily, and sometimes other food is given.  The prices of foodstuffs continue to rise to incredible heights.  Many products have almost completely disappeared from the markets.

“The mortality has reached a startling rate with the the lack of food and insanitary conditions of houses and streets.  Fat has left the majority of the population long ago.  At present, the muscular tissue is consumed.  The faces of people have taken on a waxlike color.  In order to fill their stomachs with something they drink different substitutes for tea and coffee, or quantities of plain water, resulting in puffiness and dropsy [water retention], which change the expression of the face so that old acquaintances are unrecognizable.

“The decay of property is aided not only by the colossal prices of materials and wages - the slightest repair work costs not under 100,000 rubles [which all goes to the State, as a means of “leveling” wealth] - but also to the fact that house porters are abolished, partly as a bourgeois system and partly because the porters are needed for wood cutting.  At present houses are looked after by beggars and committees composed of indigent Communists.

“Indescribable dirt and filth is on every side within the houses.  When plumbing gets out of order it remains unrepaired.  Whole houses become filthy from top to bottom and it becomes impossible to live in them  These houses are then barred, and tenants move into other houses, which are neglected in the same manner.

“There is no fuel, no hot water or baths, no janitor, doorkeeper or servants for cleaning years, streets, buildings or for the removal of garbage.  Th government appointed a special sanitary commission with sweeping authority, but the commission accomplished nothing.  The commission is housed in a building where the heating plant is out of order and the water system and toilets are not running.

“Petrograd is facing a dreadful specter of epidemics.  Thousands are already dying every month of spotted, abdominal and intermittent typhus, dysentery, Spanish influenza, small pox, pulmonary diseases, hunger and exhaustion.

“The hospitals are overflowing with dropsy victims, mostly women, elderly men and children.

“The Minister of Health, apparently realizing the gravity of the situation, recently ordered the mobilization of all physicians, regardless of age, to combat epidemic diseases.  The infection of soldiers with spotted and intermittent typhus necessitated the reopening of three of the largest military hospitals for exclusive use of the army.  The moral breakdown of the population is well illustrated in the hospitals, where there is no discipline and no care of patients.

“Patients are taken in the hospitals without a bath.  If they want to be warm while in bed awaiting an operation they must bring their own blankets and furs with them.  Both the patients and the lower medical personnel are engaged in stealing warm coverings.  The medical attendants rob the sick and steal the property of the hospitals.  Each physician has 150 to 200 patients.

“In the military hospitals where there are surgical instruments operations are performed in unheated rooms, and almost all the operations result in complications such as pneumonia and ulcers [infections].  Medical supplies are very scarce. There are only two thermometers for 150 patients.”

Edward Pearlstien comments:

“By the end of 1919 almost every industry and every utility of any importance had been nationalized, from the giant Petrograd metal works to bakeries and public baths.  In many instances old managers and engineers were removed and more often than not were replaced by individuals or committees lacking the technical and organizational experience necessary to run complicated modern industries.  It was presumed, in accordance with Marxian theory that the workers, used to the division of labor and the cooperation it required, would be able to determine their own conditions of work rationally and to organize production and distribution along socialist lines.  The result was that instead of efficiency and socialist dedication to a common goal, waste, ineptitude, lackadaisicalness, and corruption were the rule.”

And owing to the war, in which millions perished, and to rampant disease and to the wholesale murder of the upper classes, the “intelligentsia,” and anyone else who resisted Communist doctrine and dictates, there was a huge shortage of manpower.  This was exacerbated by massive starvation due to food shortages during the years immediately following, 1921-1922, when an estimated 5 million people died of malnutrition and attendant diseases.  Ten years later another famine (some believe intentionally created by megalomaniac Joseph Stalin) resulted in yet another 3-7 million deaths.

All in all, socialism was a disaster for Russia, which continues to this day to struggle with the corrupting effects of 70 years of attempts to make it work.  Socialism fails to take into account basic human nature, which is essentially self-interested rather than altruistic and self-denying.  Only in Christianity do we find the teaching and ability to live selflessly in favor of the success and well-being of others.  Lacking this, all attempts to “socialize” and “equalize” in favor of the “collective good” will always produce repression, demotivation and hopelessness.  Attempts at actualizing Marxist theory throughout the world have demonstrated this, producing results similar to those experienced by Russia and the Soviet Union.

These lessons of history, unfortunately, are not presently taught in the majority of our public schools, and are roundly ignored or downplayed by colleges and universities who would “cancel” them in favor of a revisionist version of “history” (if history is taught at all). But the lessons are still there for anyone who would search for them, and should give serious pause to those who would be so foolish as to believe themselves somehow “intelligent” enough to make Marxism work here in the United States, when it has failed so miserably everywhere else.  These lessons should also serve to truly “wake up” those who are currently making such an attempt through fomenting anarchy in the inner cities of our nation, as well those who turn a blind eye for personal, political gain.

God With Who?

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭57:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭66:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“"On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,”

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:11-12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is no friend of human pride.  Pride raises its fist in defiance against anyone or anything that would claim authority over me.  We see this continually in society.  The “occupy” demonstrations showed a lot of this attitude.

But there are other aspects of pride that aren’t quite as blatant.  There’s an independence about it, a declaration that, “I’ve got this.  I can handle it.  I can accomplish all things by my own energy, grit, determination.  Whatever I set my mind to, I can do.  I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.  I am the center of my universe.  All things exist - including God - to serve me.”  The height of Maslow’s hierarchy of “needs” is “self-actualization.”  The Christian version of this is the “fulfilled” self.  In either case, “self” is at the pinnacle.  It’s really all about me.  And this is pride.

God repeatedly says in His word that He is with those who are humble - or lowly - and contrite.  He doesn’t say he is with the powerful, self-confident or self-actualized.  In fact, the testimony of scripture is that He is against those people.  If we would truly have God “on our side,” humility is the requirement.

Humility recognizes my own insufficiency in myself, and my dependence on Someone outside myself for all things.  Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” and I think that was no exaggeration.  I have no control over my heart beating, my cells continuing to reproduce, my breathing.  Apart from God’s enabling, I can’t even get out of bed in the morning - or wake up, for that matter.  When I tackle a task at the office, or around the house, when I take on solving the problems of human society, when I seek to communicate with others, or influence others, I am utterly dependent on God’s enabling.  Humility recognizes and acknowledges this.

Contrition recognizes my attitudes and actions of independence from God, admits its failings, and seeks God’s forgiveness.  It also actively looks to Him for help in not following my own independent inclinations.  It runs counter to pride.  But it’s essential for those who would have God with them, for them, on their side.

This time of year we think of Jesus as “Emmanuel” - God with us.  The great wonder is that God would consdescend to be “with” and “among” us, and take on our human condition - even when pride dominates our thinking and behavior.  It is humbling to me to consider that God would seek me, would come to me, even though I ignorantly and willfully raise my fist in defiance of His authority over me.  How much more is it humbling to consider that He came, not just to guide, not just to teach, but to step between me and the just wrath of a holy God, absorbing that wrath, so that there is no more left for me.  Now that was true humility!

And THAT produces the humility I lack in myself.

In Memoriam

“Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

1 John 3:2 ESV

Relatively few individuals in history have had as far-reaching an impact on the condition and direction of the ministry of the church as Dr. R.C. Sproul.  His books, study materials, lectures and radio broadcasts have influenced millions to think more clearly and biblically about the gospel of Jesus, and to live out of a faith informed - and reformed - by the great truths of the Reformation, truths hammered out over the centuries by individuals who, in many cases, validated those truths with their lifeblood.  

Yesterday afternoon, R.C. entered the very presence of the Lord he had served so long.  The world is so much the richer for his having lived among us, and the poorer for his having gone out of it.  I find it interesting that I was listening to his radio broadcast earlier in the day, in which he was teaching on the above-quoted passage.  He referred to what is being described by the Apostle John as the “beatific vision,” that is, seeing the resurrected, exalted Christ as He actually is, in all His glory.  Not a pre-incarnate “theophany,” not a vision, not a dream, but the actual Second Person of the Holy Trinity, seen with the purified, unveiled eyes of the heart.  He emphasized that, at the moment we who are in Christ actually see Him, our sanctification will be complete, and we will be “like Him.”  No more shades of sinfulness, no more wrestling with our flesh, no more impure, mixed motives.  No pain.  No more tears.  Complete holiness, complete joy, complete satisfaction - forever.

It is this reality that R.C. enjoys today!  Taught on it in the morning; realized it in the afternoon!  Though I am saddened at the visible church’s loss of this great man of faith and wisdom, I rejoice for him.  Though I personally have the sense of having lost someone whose teaching has so directed and strengthened my faith and ministry, I have the confidence of seeing him again - in much better circumstances.  In the very presence of Jesus.  Thank you, Dr. Sproul.  And thank you, Jesus, for giving this man to your people, and to the world.

Making Disciples Life to Life

“So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2:22-26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

All my adult life I've been about making disciples of Jesus.  Over the years I've discovered that for many who have been Christians a long time, making disciples is a big mystery.  No one has actually taught them to do it, even though "make disciples" was the last command of Jesus' earthly ministry.  Most frequently, the default mode for those seeking to obey this command is, "I've got to quit my job and go to 'the mission field.' "  Or, "I need to go to seminary."  While one or the other of these responses - or both - are certainly right for some people, vocational ministry is not what Jesus has in mind for most of His followers.  But He still wants us to make disciples.

OK, many people, discerning that they are not called to vocational ministry, then assume that this command is not for them at all.  This is incorrect.  ALL Jesus' followers are commanded to make disciples.  A Jesus-follower is a disciple.  And according to Matthew 28:18-20, one of the commands for disciples is - make disciples! So what are we to do?  Many go from one new Christian book to another, forming a reading group and talking about what they've read.  They may even study the Bible together.  These things can be good, but they do not necessarily make disciples of Jesus.

Basically, making disciples is a whole lot like raising kids.

Whether we are discipling others or raising children, it is critical that we begin with the end in mind, and then stay on task.  It is so easy to simply follow some vague notion that we are to impart knowledge to another, and so look for the latest, greatest spiritual “product” to help us do that.  When we do this we open our disciplemaking to the influence of the current "climate," or the teaching of the current Christian poster-child.  Or, we become liable to get sidetracked focusing on political events or matters more or less interesting but mostly irrelevant to the goal of helping men and women - or our children - become faithful followers and representatives of Jesus.

I was talking with one disciple the other day who was getting besieged by others who wanted to engage him about the President’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.  Of course, this matter is a political hot potato, and folks wanted to know his opinion - or argue with it - because they knew him to be a Christian.  But, frankly, this issue really doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things - over which God is sovereign, and Who is bringing all history to its ultimate conclusion, which we know from scripture will involve Jerusalem.  Whether men call it the capital or not, God is going to accomplish His plan.  Unless we are going to seriously study eschatology, I sure wouldn't allow my disciple making - or even child-rearing - to get sidetracked on an issue like that one.

My view it it’s better to engage people with discussions that matter - like the gospel and their response to it.  Or like how what Jesus death, burial and resurrection relates to what they personally are dealing with today.  The fact is, according to the passage above, people practically serve God or Satan, knowingly or unknowingly.  Paul says in I Timothy 1:5 that our goal should be “love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith,” as Paul says.  To that end we teach wisdom
and character, not just knowledge; faith, not just skills.  And those things are best passed on life-to-life, right where we are, in the middle of life's circumstances - not in classrooms.  They are best passed along by a mutual commitment to "do life together" as friends, as families.  And we need to watch getting sidetracked by anything less.

A Life-Transforming Invitation

I distinctly remember New Year’s Eve, 1974. As the dawn of a new year approached I sat with my 2-inch-thick New American Standard Bible, avidly reading from the prophet, Malachi, and from the book of Revelation. I was finishing up my first reading of the entire Bible in a year, and I admit I was a few days behind schedule. But I was determined to finish “on time.”

One year before, as a new Air Force second lieutenant, an older Christian did me the huge favor of sharing with me a one-year Bible reading program. In the months before that, God had done a great job of breaking down my independence, showing me my need of meeting with Jesus daily through time in His word and prayer. As a result, my friend's invitation found me willing to take on the challenge of reading through the entirety of the Bible.

Now, as I finished up the plan, I recall a certain sense of having “achieved” something great. But I also remember fondly the sense of peace and growing intimacy with God that attended those sweet, closing moments of 1974. As the New Year rang in, it brought with it a taste for the word of God that has never subsided. I had indeed “tasted” and seen that the Lord is good! 

Most years since then, I have continued the practice of reading through the Bible annually. How many times? I don’t really know; I’ve lost count. I know there were a couple of years I did something different. But it’s truly not about achievement any longer; that notion went away a long time ago. Now it’s just a desire to know Him, to learn to think like Him, to build into my brain and heart the truths that will strengthen me to live for Him in a broken world. I’ve learned I need this “soul-food” more than anything else. So this New Year’s Eve, as God permits, I will be reading Malachi 3 and Revelation 22 again. And on January 1st, I look forward to savoring the opening chapters of Genesis and Matthew new and afresh.

I would like to invite you to read through the Bible with me this year! 

You can use whatever plan you like (there are lots), but I’d recommend the app for your phone or tablet, called YouVersion. It’s a wonderful Bible app, and has a number of Bible reading plans that will help you stay on track. The one I’ve been using is called The One Year Bible. It’s published in the New Living Translation, a very good contemporary translation, but you can choose your own preferred translation each day. There are dozens of translations available through the app.

If you’re interested, just drop me a note, and I will begin praying for your perseverance, and that the Lord will meet you in wonderful ways as you seek Him each day.  Additionally, as you return here, you can read my personal commentary on things God is showing me from my own reading.

Here's a link to the app:

https://www.youversion.com/apps