Can We All Agree About Miracles, Prophecy, and Tongues?

Posted on 21 May 2025 by Seth Meyers

I think we can agree on more than 20 points if you are a Christian. Maybe some of these are controversial, but I tried to pick areas on which any serious Christian would agree.

Miracles

  1. The greatest miracle is true conversion (2 Cor. 5:17), and therefore, this should occupy our prayers, conversations, and church meetings by far more than any other earthly miracle.
  2. Some miracles have clearly ceased such as creating bread out of nothing, walking on water, ending funerals by raising the dead person, staying all night with lions, and living comfortably through a furnace.
  3. Many miracles were performed on people with no faith such as the man who wanted money in Acts 3 or the dead man in Luke 7.
  4. Many good men in the Bible endured sickness, pain, and death without being healed such as Stephen, James, Paul, the believers in Hebrews 11:35-38, and of course, Jesus of Nazareth.
  5. Miracles are not a sufficient evidence of godliness because many false prophets perform miracles (Matt. 7:21-23; 24:24; Rev. 13:13).
  6. God often allows the best of His children to suffer greatly such as Job and Epaphroditus.

Prophecy

  1. The greatest prophecies are those recorded in Scripture, and we all should study, read, memorize and speak about the words of those prophecies much more.
  2. The prophets and apostles that are recorded in the Bible deserve much more of our time and attention than any modern teacher, speaker, pastor, prophet, or apostle.
  3. Any prophet who takes part in, is deceived by, or supports the prosperity gospel is helping a false gospel for a false religion.
  4. A massive number around the world believe in miracles, but are still unconverted—especially in Africa and South America.
  5. The majority of false prophets today who claim to be Christian believe in speaking in tongues and miracles (Copeland, Hinn, Dollar, etc.).
  6. True Christians should renounce and separate from false prophets.
  7. Pastors who focus on teaching the Bible, generally do not believe in modern prophecy, miracles, or tongues.

Tongues, or Languages

  1. Evangelists and missionaries need to speak with other languages, and this should be the great focus of our prayers and effort.
  2. Speaking in languages is only mentioned in 3 books of the Bible, Mark 16:17; Acts 2, 10, 19, and 1 Cor. 12-14.
  3. Speaking in languages is clearly the miracle of speaking human, earthly languages in Mark and Acts.
  4. Speaking in languages is ranked below the other gifts (1 Cor. 12:28; 14:5, 19).
  5. Speaking in languages is found in no letters except the one written to the worst church (Corinth).
  6. Speaking in languages is not mentioned in the pastoral epistles, prison epistles, general epistles, or letters to the Seven Churches.
  7. Men should desire to speak in the language of all the people, more than speaking in another language (1 Cor. 14:19).
  8. Only 2 or 3 men may speak in languages in a church meeting (1 Cor. 14:27).
  9. No one may speak in languages in a church meeting without an interpreter (1 Cor. 14:27).
  10. Women may not speak in languages in the church (1 Cor. 14:34-35).
  11. Nothing should be done in the church which is childish (14:20), only strengthens the speaker (14:26), discourages learning (14:31), brings confusion (14:33), or is not proper or in order (14:40).
  12. All the rules of 1 Corinthians 14 must be applied to speaking in other languages.

Don’t you want more Bible knowledge (7, 8, 13)? Are you a believer and yet you desire more firmly to be healed from cancer than to see yourself and your children converted from Satan’s family to God’s (1)? Are you unwilling to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (4, 5, 6)? Do you refuse to follow God’s Word about the gatherings of Christians (17-25)?

If we could agree on these—even 20 of the 25, then I think most problems with charismaticism would be gone. But a disagreement on things such as an emphasis of comfort or excitement may actually reveal an entirely different spirit. That is my great concern with what I have experienced over and over: Most charismatics I have talked to have very little interest in Biblical evidences of conversion. And our Lord specifically said that many charismatics—“Did we not prophesy, cast out devils, and perform many miracles in your name?”—will be sent to Hell.

Posted in Prosperity gospel | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What Kind of Child Are We Trying to Produce?

Posted on 13 May 2025 by Seth Meyers

My wife is attempting to train our children in the classical style. It has cost her a great amount of time in researching books, lists of books, curricula (which are also largely lists of books), and different ideas on what to cut and what to include.

Some say the focus is on character such as Charlotte Mason: An honorable child who can regulate himself, his passions, and his heart—this is the goal of education. Some say the focus is on the good, true, and beautiful such as Andrew Kern: A child who can balance the virtues needed to be a wise citizen. Some say the focus ought to be on Christianity such as Kevin Swanson: A child who has mastered the Bible and church history.

What kind of child are we trying to produce with our understanding of classical education? Or in other words, Why are our children reading the works of pagans such as Homer, Herodotus, Aristotle, and Julius Caesar, or Catholics such as Aquinas and Anselm?

A one-word answer is Excellence. Or another would be Permanent. There could be other simple summaries, but we desire our children to be formed by the “things which cannot be shaken.” Amy and I are looking at the world and looking at history and wondering—along with so many other parents: Why don’t we have any more J. S. Bach’s today? Where are the Rembrandt’s? Why don’t we have any Thomas Jefferson’s running for office? How can I raise a William Carey in my home?

If you took all four of those men and tried to find the similarity between them, what would you call it? What made such glorious paintings, architecture, mission work, and political wisdom come to the surface? Richard Weaver called it, “the metaphysical dream.” Perhaps there is a better name: Christian culture, or enduring culture, or classical culture. We see clearly that there is this common thread binding such men, and that is what we want for our children. It is the aim of our training. It is in my eyes as a father when I pray and start discussions and counsel toward future marriage.

We want to look very carefully at Augustine, Luther, Milton, Washington, Mendelssohn, and Lloyd-Jones, and then when we have found the great similarity in all these men, we want to squeeze it out, bottle it up, and bake it into the cake that is the lives of our children.

So we are planning that our children (and our first already has) read the 10,000 lines of Dante’s amazing Divine Comedy not because he is accurate at all points, but because he had that something that marks these other men—he saw life through the metaphysical dream. His writing was permanent, and it has already lived over 700 years. His pictures are fundamentally Biblical, Christian, and will last into Heaven. I hope they will make our children soulwinners like Charles Spurgeon whether they go into plumbing, office work, politics, or missions.

Homer’s use of language, his reflection on the nature of man, and his pictures—these traits, so difficult to defend in the modern world, are why we have our children read the Iliad and the Odyssey even though some of the actions or lines in these epics are sinful. We believe the positive qualities are permanent, or classical. We think that this is the string tying together the examples listed above.

The Greek philosophers before Christ were masters of abstract thought. This habit of mind is permanent. It is like building with marble rather than bricks made from cement, and so we want our children somehow to have this as well. We believe our children will get more out of Hebrews having read Plato.

Of course, we are Christians, so the Bible is read each day multiple times. If we only had one book, it would be the Best of Books, and we are confident that One would be enough. Yet these other tools hold the gates open more widely so that more and more of the Bible can get in the city. Permanent, classic, enduring works act as a pump to increase the flow of Scripture and Scriptural ideas so that the reservoir is full.

Our aim is to make Puritans who knew Scripture so well and yet could write and act so that their words deserved to be preserved. Our aim is to make good citizens who, if everyone else were like them, would make a Christian society. Our aim is to make men who deserve to be on the world stage, but are quite content to be hidden in a small village for the sake of the elect.

We are not claiming excellence or perfection, but merely that we aim for whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, and excellent in our choices of education.

That is what we mean by classical education, and on Mother’s Day, I thank God for a woman who inspired me to raise our children in this way. The world is dark and getting darker, but may our Father make our kids salt and light so that when He comes, He will find faith in this family.

Posted in Family | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Lift Up Your Eyes and Look on Asia

Posted on 9 April 2025 by Seth Meyers
Posted in Missions, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Missions is Hard

Posted on 27 February 2025 by Seth Meyers

It is a very common teaching that all men enter the world with the image of God imprinted on their souls. Adam received life through the breath of God. But then they began dying through the catastrophic decision of our first mother and an even worse mistake of our first father.

But this first fall of man has made missions very difficult. Here are 25 statements from Scripture regarding the sinfulness of man. And then the main point of this article: Reasons Missions is Hard.

The work of missions is unusually difficult because of the truth of one commonly accepted doctrine.

25 Observations on Total Depravity

  1. Gen. 6:5 “…the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
  2. Gen. 19:11 Men exhaust themselves looking for chances to sin.
  3. Ex. 15:24—After 10 plagues, after the Red Sea opening, they complain!
  4. Josh. 24:23—As soon as they enter the land, they must be told, “Put away the false gods…”
  5. Judges 2:19—They corrupted themselves more than their fathers.
  6. The books of 1 Samuel through 2 Kings—Of 42 separate kings, only 11 have any righteousness. But even these “good kings” failed spectacularly. The best one calls himself a dead dog (1 Sam. 24:14) and a worm (Psa. 22:6), and he is right because he breaks the most serious commands.
  7. Pro. 28:26—“He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.”
  8. Ecc. 9:3—The heart of the sons of men is full of evil and insanity.
  9. Isa. 1:4-6—God calls men sinful, children of evildoers whose whole head is sick, whose whole heart is faint, from their feet to the head there is nothing healthy, but spiritually men are full of sores and bruises.
  10. Isa. 64:6—“…all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.”
  11. Jer. 17:9-10—Our hearts are deceitful and sick so that we cannot even know how bad they are.
  12. Matt. 5:3—We are spiritual beggars.
  13. Matt. 5:4—We should be weeping because of our spiritual problem.
  14. Matt. 15:22-28—Men are dogs who do not deserve grace.
  15. John 1:11—Men do not receive Him.
  16. John 3:19—Men love darkness.
  17. John 7:7—Men hate Jesus.
  18. John 8:44—Men are children of Satan.
  19. Rom. 3:11—Men do not want God.
  20. 1 Cor. 2:14—Men are not even able to understand spiritual matters.
  21. Eph. 2:1—Men are dead in sin.
  22. Tit. 1:15—Men have filthy minds and consciences.
  23. James 4:4—Men are enemies of God.
  24. 1 John 3:4—Men are cosmic criminals.
  25. 1 John 5:19—“The whole world lies in the powerr of the evil one.”

What would it be like trying to evangelize or plant a church if these kinds of corrupt influences still remained in your heart? It would be a very hard job. Missionaries are still sinners.

4 Reasons missions is hard from the sins of the ones who are sent out as missionaries

    1. Refusing to go. It is a sin to refuse to go. Our Lord commanded us to go. Our Lord commanded us to forsake all. Our Lord commanded us to love our neighbors. But many Christians do not go because of the power of sin that still remains even after conversion. Disobeying the Great Commission is a very common sin, but who ever confesses this? Our love of comfort and our fear of loss tempt us to this sin. Our doubting of God’s promises and our lack of love slip us into this sin without even realizing that we have made a choice. How can you avoid this sin?
      1. By asking God to show you if you have done it.
      2. By opening up your soul to any possibility of service with no thought for yourself, your comfort, or your safety.
      3. By pondering the condition of those who are, even now, without any light.
      4. By adding missions as a major part of your budget and prayer time and correspondence and then seeing if you are satisfied.

    2. Laziness and lack of discipline. Without a boss directly watching us, we find it hard to show initiative. This sin shows in a missionary’s life in his time management, sleeping in late, putting few items on the schedule, taking a long time for something that should take a small amount of time, and choosing to give his time to things that are off topic.

    3. Sinfully weak and easily exhausted. Since it is a command to be strong, it is sinful not to be strong in that way (Eph. 6:10; 2 Tim. 2:1). Because we do not trust God’s promises to save, we pray very little. We try to evangelize, but it is hard and shows such small results. We see the real problems and sins of the people, and fail to hope in the power of the gospel and the promise that Christ will build His church. We stop looking for His Coming, and so we grow tepid in religious duties. Many missionaries return to their home country give up before finishing 5 years. They might have very good reasons, but might they not also be tempted to give up? As a missionary, I can tell you, we are often tempted to quit.
    1. Rude words
      Have you ever noticed how many times the epistles talk about being kind, gentle, patient, and overlooking?
      1. To nationals, missionaries can be arrogant, unbending, thoughtless, hasty, and harsh.
      2. To their coworkers, missionaries can be inconsiderate, manipulative, and selfish. The kind of person who becomes a missionary commonly has seen and killed some sins, but not stubbornness or pride. How can we hope to be successful as missionaries among people without the light when we speak without grace?

    Missionaries need to study the doctrine and practice of humility if they would ever hope for success in their labor. But they are not the only problem. The people themselves are not noble savages. The sinfulness of man applies both to the heathen as well as to the missionaries.

    5 Reasons missions is hard from the sins of the nations to whom missionaries go

    Every description in Scripture applies to the people whom we are trying to reach. They are far worse than they realize, and usually the people themselves are far worse than the missionaries realize. In Scripture, people without the Bible were so vile that God commanded their absolute annihilation.

    1. The conditions necessary for knowledge are not found in false religion.
      Certainty—What could be certain when so many spirits can change from day to day, and it is the decisions of the spirits that influence all the important things? To have certainty, your mind must see an Absolute, Unchanging Mind Sitting Supreme over all others—a sovereign God—the Lord of Hosts revealed in the Bible. Demons invented all false religions so that the blind followers think everything reflects their changing, wild, and unpredictable movements. This means: African Traditional Religion, as just one example of false religion, has no place or possibility for what we take for granted: Knowledge. This one philosophical factor creates a coldness and an apathy toward learning. Their religion has kept great matters from them. For example, there is no ATR view of the purpose of life. So those who grew up breathing this air, generally speaking, do not grapple with ultimate questions. Who is God? What is guilt? What happens after death? What is truth?
    2. The language itself has significant spiritual limitations.

    The Tsonga language has fewer than 10,000 words (perhaps as few as 3,000) spoken by the average person. Many abstract terms (such as abstract and term) are not clearly available (including also neither clear nor available).

    Tsonga has 4 adjectives: New (-ntshwa), good (-kahle), intense (-nene), small (-nyana); and one adverb: very (ngopfu). Perhaps I have missed one, but regardless, the number is very small.

    Negation usually requires 2 changes in the sentence rather than 1 change in other languages. There are no negative prefixes such as the “a-” in “atheist” or the “un-” in “unbeliever.” Making such negative terms then becomes a lengthier process.

    Passive voice verbs are commonly used when active voice verbs would show moral agency. For example, when I asked, “Are you and the other 3 men going to do that job at the church?” The answer was “A ku tirhiwi.” Literally, “There is not being work.”

    These aspects of language makes evangelism and disciple-making very difficult. But should we not expect sin and Satan to touch every part of life? Why would we even think that Satan would be disinterested in touching something so powerful as language? He has touched it. And their sin has touched it, and it makes preaching hard.

    1. Family structures that are deeply unbiblical
      Many cultures stretch the definition of family past the nuclear family. Gen. 2:24 puts unique responsibility for a man to make some kind of break with all others outside his wife. They together have a unique bond with their children. Other views of family allow the man to avoid his responsibility, and when sinners have another way out, they will take it. Polygamy is also a terrible result of an unbiblical view of family and so too are the murder of twins at birth, and a light view of sexual relations outside marriage.

    Views of family etch themselves very deeply in the lives of those to whom we try to bring the gospel. And it can be very hard to evangelize because of in-law problems, multiple wives, and relationships and children outside marriage.

    1. Sinful ideas of wealth and poverty
      Satan teaches men that wealth is limited to what they can see. It cannot be created. Many cultures of the world are trapped by this idea and then specially tempted with jealousy, greed, anger, apathy, violence, and instant gratification. When the gospel comes, it changes not only what you say you believe, but it must change the way you find your food.
    2. Arbitrary morality
      Like all forms of animism, ATR has no unchanging laws. There are no absolutes saving that a general and all conquering fear must be given to the realm of unknowable spirits. It has no text or revelation. The little ones who grow up in it are not the virtue of restraining their urges, speaking the truth, considering others, or planning for the future. ATR has no retribution where guilt must be covered. This is why places that need missionaries have higher rates of poverty, infant mortality, and crime. But that is exactly what we would expect: Where there is no Vision from God, the people perish in their folly and demonic captivity. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, so Christians should know that cultures without Him have lost their way, they do not value truth, and we could describe them as dead.

    Conclusion

    If we do not realize the very real difficulties in ourselves and the people, we will fail at this most vital task of missions. Probably what I have written will offend some who read. But my concern is to spread a love for the Son of God to the poorest people who are trapped in darkness. My concern is that the Lake of Fire is real, and sinners are rushing there. They can only be saved when the truth is spoken about their sin, and all Christians take up a Biblical approach to sin in their own lives as well as the lives of the poor.

    There is no task in the long history of man more difficult than missions because no task so immediately confronts so much sin.

    Posted in Missions, Multiculturalism | Tagged , | 1 Comment

    Why My Efforts to Plant a Church Failed

    Posted on 14 January 2025 by Seth Meyers

    Recently, we spoke with a woman who had visited our English church plant several times with her husband and children. She mentioned to my wife and I that the state of our town was sad because there was no church that her family could attend.

    So, I asked, “Ma’am, don’t worry, you won’t offend me. We just want to learn what you and others like you are thinking. But why did your family visit our church years ago, and then stop? My wife and I did not intend to minister in English when we moved to Africa. It was an unusual providence that put us in this town, and further bizarre circumstances that caused us to plant an English church. Yet we had numerous families visit for several weeks, tell us that there was no true church here, and then eventually move away like your family. Can you please tell me what would have made that churchplant appealing to your family? Again, I won’t be bothered if you say my preaching, or the music, or the culture, or the services, or the buildings—we just want to hear what you and your family were thinking.”

    Woman: “Well, I will be brutally honest. When my husband heard the preaching. He was amazed. It was the Word. He told me that preaching like that was what we needed. But the music was too old and dull.”

    Seth: “So music was a big reason? The only reason? One of several reasons?”

    Woman: “My children did not know the songs, and they could not sing along. We love music, and we love to worship, but those songs you chose were too different.”

    Seth: “I have a book on my shelf—a famous book—that says the kind of music your church uses will determine whether or not it grows. [Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, 1995, page 280] So I could have guessed that you would say that. I myself wondered throughout our 6 years how many people thought like you.”

    Woman: “Yes, we love worship, and when I worship, I feel like falling down and saying, ‘Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.’ But my husband even reminded me that sometimes people don’t really want to worship, they are really just caught up with the music. It is all emotional for them. For example, we went to hear a famous music group from an American church that visited South Africa. When we heard them people were shouting and screaming, but we thought, ‘You are focused on a man.’ I think many people just want to hear this awesome music, but they don’t really want God.”

    Seth: “From our side, we made our decisions based on eternity. We want you and your kids to be in Heaven. We believe very firmly in the Lake of Fire and also in the glory of Heaven. We want you to enjoy Christ for all eternity, and that is why we made the decisions about preaching and music that we made. It is very sad to me that a Venda man with 4 children came to our church and would have joined, but his wife was not comfortable with the music. We have reason to believe that several other families visited and thought the same thing. But thank you for opening up. Your trip is not done yet, so please make your conversion and your children’s conversion the top priority in your life.”

    Woman: “Even though we don’t have a church, I feel like I am very close to God.”

    The conversation covered a little more ground, but my mind was thinking of the father of three who told me he had visited the churches in the town, and not found one that preached the gospel.

    Why did the churchplant in Louis Trichardt fail? Why are there no more Sunday morning meetings? The “why” question can be answered in different ways, but this woman summarized one valid reason. Multiple families only wanted truth if it was accompanied by the kind of music that famous singers offered at popular concerts. Years ago, when we lived in Makhongele, a Tsonga “pastor” told me that building a church was simple: Buy two, 6-foot high speakers and a drum set.

    Some would say: “Music? Seriously? Just change your music, Seth! You could save these people and have them in your church if you weren’t so picky. It is your foolish wrangling over mere preferences that will stop the work of the church in this area. These people really want truth, and you could give it to them. It is a small thing. Be a Greek to the Greek and an African to the Africans. Stop being picky. Throw away your petty spirit. Don’t lose souls for your pining over past ages. Honestly, I can’t believe you are even making this post.”

    But if music is such a small thing, then why are these people willing to stay at home without attending any church rather than come to a service where a piano accompanies hymns? Would the same rhetoric be used with Elisha? “Elisha, you could heal Naaman! Don’t offend him over bathing in a river!” Or the rich young ruler: “Jesus, by choosing words that are a little more accommodating this young man would be saved.”

    You would rather attend a “church” that does not teach Biblical truth; you would rather your children grow up without learning the Bible; you would rather distance yourself from teaching that you admit is lively and Biblical; you will stand in front of God without the help that a faithful Christian ministry could offer; you will live in a town without helping to establish a New Testament kind of church—in your judgment all of these things should rather happen, than attend a service with merely a piano and hymns?

    One thing is clear to me: We all think music is important.

    Posted in Missions, Orthopathy | 1 Comment

    Books I Read in 2024

    Posted on 2 January 2025 by Seth Meyers

    Awards

    • Book of the Year: Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections
    • Surprise of the Year: Jason Lisle, Fractals
    • Worst of the Year: Daniel Taylor, Death Comes for the Deconstructionist.

    Non-Fiction Categories

    • Weight: Did the book ask and answer the most germane questions about an important topic?
    • Research: Did the writer demonstrate a thorough command of the subject?
    • Style: Did the theme, vocabulary, and composition represent an enduring standard?
    • Logic: Did the book model logic in definitions, formatting, and focus?
    • Affections: Was some truth presented powerfully to the affections?

    Scoring

    0 The book was notable for lacking this category repeatedly.
    1 The book dipped into this category at times.
    2 The book consistently demonstrated this category.

    NON-FICTIONWRSLAScore
    Lisle, Jason. Fractals. 2021. 216 pp.
    Author’s point: Mathematics and specifically the Mandelbrot Set contain a secret, infinite, and beautiful code that represents the mind of the Trinity.

    My evaluation: As I am eager to find signs that point me in the direction of infinity and scents that excite my spiritual curiosity and imagination, the Mandelbrot Set inspires me with the spiritual hope to see God. The effect of this book was similar to The Divine Comedy.    		2222210
    Dann, Robert. Father of Faith Missions: The Life of Anthony Norris Groves. 2004. 606 pp.
    Author’s point: God placed true spirituality in Groves stirring both the Brethren and the Faith Missions movement.

    My evaluation: The spirituality of Groves, Pfander, Arulappan, Rhenius, and others in this far-ranging historical account both inspires and raises a diverse array of questions to be pondered and prayers to be prayed.    		2222210
    Mason, Charlotte. Ourselves. 1905. 210 pp.
    Author’s point: Each child must be guided to form virtue as a habit in his thoughts, feelings, and words.

    My evaluation: Though sometimes Pelagian, Mason consistently sees common temptations and ways of escape for the improvement of character.    		212117
    Herodotus. The History. Ca 420 BC. 716 pp. Audio
    Author’s point: Important things must be recorded in the history of the Greek world for the instruction of future generations and honor of those who performed well.

    My evaluation: Men can reach amazing heights and even lower depths.    		222208
    Epstein, David. Range. 2021. 368 pp. Audio
    Author’s point: Broad studies and disciplines are more effective and profitable than narrowly focused training.

    My evaluation: Every proponent of classical education smiles neatly at the stream of evidences in this book for a broad approach to study, learning, and life.    		122218
    Josephus. The Jewish War. Audio
    Author’s point: The destruction of the Jewish people by the Romans roughly 40 years after Jesus Christ was the inevitable consequence of their unfaithfulness to God and libertarian tendencies.

    My evaluation: These terrible events sound often like other ancient histories and match repeatedly with Jesus’ description in the Olivet Discourse.    		222219
    Brown, Daniel. The Boys in the Boat. Audio
    Author’s point: An unlikely group of young men pass every other team one by one to win the Olympic gold in rowing in 1936.

    My evaluation: This thrilling story sets two different lessons alternately before my mind: the value of character and the folly of exalting sports and any earthly pursuit to achieve lasting happiness.    		121116
    Marsden, George. Jonathan Edwards. 2003. 640 pp. Audio.
    Summary: Edwards had an amazing mind, but his eccentricities marred his overall effectiveness.

    My evaluation: Marsden does not support Edwards’ religion the way Murray does.    		221117
    Reisinger, John. Tablets of Stone. 2004, 150 pp. Read with Caleb.
    Author’s point: The 10 Commandments are not an adequate summary of the duties of someone under the New Covenant.

    My evaluation: Covenant Theology cannot recover from the replacement of the OT law by the Law of Christ. If the laws are changed, then it cannot be the same covenant under a new and better administration.    		121217
    Wylie, James. The History of the Waldenses. 1860?, reprint 2012, 206 pages. 1st reading 2020. With family 2024.
    Author’s point: The Waldenses modeled Christian tenacity and manly fortitude in their perseverance and suffering for hundreds of years.

    My evaluation: It is difficult to tell whether the heart is stirred more by the length of time throughout which these villages persevered or the intensity of the sufferings they endured.    		2222210
    Kim Phuc Phan Thi, Ashley Wiersma, Fire Road. 2017. 317 pages. Audio
    Author’s point: The little girl who was bombed with napalm in 1972 lived a gripping, terrifying life, and ultimately followed Jesus Christ with inspiring devotion.

    My evaluation: The fire bomb is only a piece of her pain and hardships all of which made her conversion to Christianity, perseverance as a Baptist, and evangelism of her family more compelling.    		221229
    Benge, Dustin, Nate Pickowicz. The American Puritans. 2020. 224 pages. Audio
    Author’s point: American culture and history was shaped by spiritual giants during the 18th and 19th centuries.

    My evaluation: As this is the fourth history of the Puritans I have read in the last 12 months, their spirituality stands out and draws me. Audio.    		222118
    Dice, Mark. Hollywood Propaganda.
    Author’s point: The industry that creates the movies, music, and television shows is indisputably controlled by a single mindset that opposes America, traditional family values, and individual economic liberty.

    My evaluation: It cannot be denied that holiness, manhood, femininity, honesty, hard work, and in short, Christianity itself stands in complete opposition to the productions of the film, TV, and music industries.    		221218
    Doddridge, Philip. The Hymns of Doddridge. 2010 reprint from 1766. ed. Ashworth
    375 Hymns based on verses that Doddridge was preaching from. Often inspiring, but not at the level of Watts or Herbert.    		122229
    Spencer, Robert. The Palestinian Delusion. 2019. 304 pages. Audio
    Author’s point: The history of Israel and the wars of the Middle East in the last 75 years are all stemming from Islamic hatred and Jihad.

    My evaluation: The ethnicity, nationality, history, and even lives of the people living in Gaza and the West Bank are tools used by Islam to destroy the Jewish state first and Jews second.    		222219
    Watts. Isaac. Logic. 1724, reprint 2006. 353 pages.
    Author’s point: Good thinking requires hard work so let’s study it carefully beginning with definition and including many lists of rules for thinking.

    My evaluation: Still profitable after first reading it in 2008. Logic is a highly practical field of study, not a cold abstract realm for philosophers. The best part of this book are the lists of directions for ideas, definitions, fallacies, clear thinking, and preparing speeches.    		2222210
    Sowell, Thomas. Vision of the Anointed. 1995. 320 pp. Audio.
    Summary: Some people believe they are above others and therefore their unique gifting and insight allows them to shape the world.

    My evaluation: Clear description of progressivism.    		222208
    Spencer, Robert. The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the Koran. 2009, 260 pp. Audio
    Author’s point: Infidel’s will approach Islam much more realistically if they understand what the Koran teaches.

    My evaluation: The Koran presents political domination achieved by violence to set up the history’s most legalistic religion.    		222219
    Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. 1971, 242 pp. With family
    Author’s point: The Ten Boom family suffered greatly when the Nazi’s began WWII, and yet grace triumphed.

    My evaluation: It is one of the great triumphs of grace in church history to see divine love, forgiveness, and self-denial in the lives of Corrie and her family.    		2222210
    Edwards, Jonathan. Religious Affections. 1746, reprinted and abridged 1999, 319 pp.
    Author’s point: True faith in Jesus is seen by a lifestyle of practical obedience to His laws and 11 other marks.

    My evaluation: As a Christian and a pastor, the new birth and a lifestyle of obedience to the laws of Christ need to have a higher place in my prayers, evangelism, and preaching.
    His outline: 10 proofs that Affections are a part of true faith 12 insufficient evidences of godly Affections 12 evidences of holy Affections 5 arguments that obedience is the best proof    		2222210
    Spencer, Robert. Arab Winter. 288 pages. 2014. Audio
    Author’s point: Islam is not only driven to conquer the world militarily, but there are numerous examples of Muslims doing this through terror.

    My evaluation: He’s right.    		222208
    Haykin, Michael. Amidst Us Our Beloved Stands. 2022. 135 pages.
    Author’s point: Modern Baptists need to speak about their love for Christ at the Lord’s Table with the kinds of terms used by older Baptists.

    My evaluation: The love for Christ that His chief servants had among the Baptists of the 1600-1700’s inspires and shames me, and yet these great Christians seemed to surpass us with their zeal in preaching, prayer, and singing as well as their devotion at the Lord’s Table. Their faith was exceptional, but I am not convinced that certain words used to describe the Lord’s Table will produce that today—though such words may help!    		111126
    Edwards, Jonathan. Charity and Its Fruits. Sermons preached in 1738, published in 1852, and 2005. 368 pages.
    Author’s point: To preserve the state of the revival, we must turn our hearts to true Christian love.

    My evaluation: Christian love deserves a careful, prolonged treatment like these 16 sermons complete with lists and questions. The chapter on Anger (9) cuts and heals, and Heaven (16) thrills.    		2222210
    Piper, John. Come, Lord Jesus. 2023 303 pp.
    Summary: The Second Coming will reveal and display Jesus Christ wonderfully.

    My evaluation: Ironically, the book does not stir the heart to look for Christ because the author spends little or no time on some of the best passages (Matt. 24-25 and Rev. 19-20), entirely neglects the Millennium, Heaven, and the Lake of Fire, and does not believe that Christ can come today.    		112116
    Tonjes, Eric. Either Way, We’ll Be All Right. 2021, 224 pp. Audio. Summary: Think much about God and His plan for the world when you are suffering.

    My evaluation: The scattered insights on living in a sinful world were often forgotten when he took swings several times at dispensationalism, premillennialism, and cultural holiness.    		111216

    Fiction Categories

    • Biblical: Did the author honor Scriptural truth or a Christian worldview even if unwittingly?
    • Creative: Did the author grip the imagination by inventing characters, situations, or other aspects of reality?
    • Style: Did the theme, vocabulary, and composition represent an enduring standard?
    • Credible: Were the characters, plot turns, and relationships believable?
    • Affections: Was some truth presented powerfully to the affections?

    Scoring

    0 The book was notable for lacking this category repeatedly.
    1 The book dipped into this category at times.
    2 The book consistently demonstrated this category.

    FICTIONBCSCAScore
    Taylor, Daniel. Death Comes for the Deconstructionist. 2014. 199 pp. With Amy. Recommended by Piper.
    Summary: When Taylor deconstructs deconstructionism, he is a sure-footed and gallant knight on a great errand. Those passages were not only insightful, but fun. His critique hits home when his hero is an inveterate postmodern loser in part because he followed deconstructionism. Clever and memorable.

    Evaluation: But when he mixes in multicultural claptrap, when he paints fundamentalists as perverted child molesters (the other part of why the hero is a loser), and when he pours unfiltered stream of consciousness rambling onto his innocent readers through his hero, his imagination jars with his intellect.    		101114
    Austen, Jane. Lady Susan. With Amy.
    Summary: A devil in a dress manipulates everyone in her circle to gain her own way.

    Evaluation: The secret schemes the heart invents to achieve its own ends while still being seen as a good person are uncovered memorably in this last Austen work.    		212128
    Orwell, George. Animal Farm. 1945, 141 pp. With Family
    Summary: A farm is taken over by animals and run in a highly authoritarian way until misery and poverty are more prevalent than dung.

    Evaluation: Socialism deserves to be mocked, but also hated, and this short story helps the soul do both.    		222219
    Tolkien, J. R. R. Lord of the Rings. With Family.
    Summary: 10th reading of this story. Lively sense of hope this time. Greatest novel ever.    		2222210
    Charles Dickens, David Copperfield. With Amy
    Summary: A young man grows from very hard beginnings to a successful man.

    My evaluation: An interminable example of some good themes spoiled by a story without a conflict or a climax.

    No retribution for the villains, and no rebuke from the hero.
    Clever characters who do very few interesting things.
    Cut, cut, cut—very much like Hugo.
    It is easier to believe in Narnia than a man would court and marry like David Copperfield.    		111115

    Posted in Book reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

    Forerunner to Charismatics: Edward Irving

    Posted on 17 December 2024 by Seth Meyers

    Thesis

    • A promising start with plentiful gifts is not sufficient to protect from false doctrine and foolish practices.

    A review and summary of Arnold Dallimore’s The Life of Edward Irving, 1983, 188 pages.

    1. Edward Irving had a promising beginning.
    1. 1792 Born on August 4.
    2. 1806 Went to the University of Edinburgh at 13.
    3. 1810 Graduated at 17 and then entered ministerial training until 23.
    4. Physical description: 6’ 4”, strong, handsome face, thick black hair, powerful and pleasing voice, usually dressed in fashionable clothes.
    5. Personality and intellect: Quick mind, independent, unflinching, masculine, generous, sensational, and spectacular.
    1. He enters the ministry and rises to fame.
    1. 1819 Teaches school until he is 27 when he is hired by Dr. Thomas Chalmers as an assistant.
    2. While serving with Chalmers, the church is divided over him.
    3. 1822 He is called to be pastor in London.
    4. The church had about 50 each Sunday when Irving arrived, but within months, 500-1,500 were packing the church.
    5. He labored to make his sermons always exciting and pleasing.
    6. 1822 He publishes his first book on preaching at 30 years old in his first year as a senior pastor.
    7. 1823 Irving finally marries Isabella after leading on Jane Welsh.
    8. Jane turned away from Christianity, so Irving sadly took Isabella.
    9. 1823 He becomes close friends with the famous poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge who was a Unitarian.
    10. 1824 Iriving preaches for the London Missionary Society and rebukes the presence of mission boards as a sign of apostasy.
    11. Further, he published his address. Still further, he added a dedication to the published work promoting Coleridge as an orthodox Christian.
    12. After six years of ministry in London, massive crowds were listening to him, he had built a new church building, famous people would listen to his preaching, and his books were being circulated.
    1. Doctrinal errors and novelties creep into Irving’s ministry.
    1. Several volumes of Irving’s works remain and there is no evidence of expository preaching in any of them.
    2. A lawyer who was also a church member said of Irving, he seemed to “scorn precision of ideas, and his views will thus continuously vary, without himself being aware of it. His energy and activity… leave him peculiarly open to error.” Dallimore, 60
    3. 1824-1828 Most of his study and preaching are focused on prophecy.
    4. He made his ministry emphasis exciting, religious ideas rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ seen from all its angles and connections and texts.
    5. 1825 He preaches again for a missions society and again causes controversy.
    6. He argued that all the churches were corrupt and missions had no hope of success.
    7. Then he published this address as well!
    8. He later found a Spanish book on the Second Coming by a Catholic Priest, added a 203 page preface, and published that work as well.
    9. Irving’s study of prophecy led him to believe that miracles and signs would be restored before the Second Coming.
    10. 1825 His baby son dies, and he takes the position that sickness always comes from sin and is controlled by Satan. “No Christian ought ever to be overcome by sickness.” Dallimore, 160
    11. He also began teaching something like baptismal regeneration to comfort himself that his little boy was converted.
    12. 1827 When the new church building opened, Irving invited Dr. Chalmers to preach.
    13. But then Irving read Psalm 119, prayed for 40 minutes and took up another 30 minutes before asking Dr. Chalmers to speak.
    14. Irving preached the false teaching of “Christ’s sinful flesh”, and when he tried to explain himself in print, he contradicts and obscures the whole matter.
    15. He taught that the atonement was accomplished during Christ’s life, not His death.
    16. He made numerous false steps on the person of Christ and the way of salvation.
    17. Then when he was pressed, he would try to explain by contradicting or stating things in unclear terms.
    18. He loved oratory, but he had not disciplined himself to careful, precise theology.
    19. Irving became friends with McLeod Campbell and A. J. Scott who had left the WCF that they had been ordained under.
    20. Eventually, Irving rejected total depravity and divine election along with the Confession through the influence of these friends.
    1. Tongues is first seen in Scotland.
    1. Mary Campbell was a young girl who had lost her father years earlier and her fiancé recently.
    2. When she heard of Irving’s teachings, she decided that her own sickness was from Satan.
    3. Further, there was a distinction between regeneration and Spirit baptism.
    4. Mary also wanted to be involved in missions.
    5. In order to do so, she believed that she would be healed and given the ability to speak other languages.
    6. She declared that training for the ministry was from Satan since God could give the right words directly to preachers.
    7. 1830 March Mary began to speak incomprehensible sounds.
    8. Mary was convinced that she was speaking the language of an island in the South Seas.
    9. During the months of visitors coming to the Campbell home where Mary’s sister Isabella had died, her brother Samuel was now sick.
    10. Though he urged them not to have such loud and late prayer meetings they continued.
    11. When Samuel died Mary told the people who came that God would raise him up and so they waited to bury the corpse.
    12. Finally, Mary moved from Scotland to London to attend Irving’s church.
    1. The “gifts” arrive in England.
    1. 1831 Irving is now 38 and a woman who had been attending his church now speaks with unknown sounds in London.
    2. She then interpreted what she had said, “The Lord will speak to His people! The hastens His coming! The Lord comes!”
    3. Just after that another young lady from Irving’s church does the same thing.
    4. By the end of that year, six of the members received the title “The Gifted Ones.”
    5. Four of the six were women, and they were given a special pew in church.
    6. Then the Mormons and Shakers in America professed to speak in other languages.
    7. Everyone at that time believed these words were languages spoken by some people on earth.
    8. Fighting breaks out among the members over interpretations and one of them eventually writes a pamphlet against his old church.
    9. 1831 On a Sunday morning in Irving’s 39th year, two women stand up during the service and began to make sounds in front of 2,000.
    10. Irving approves of this.
    11. It happens again and again, usually by women.
    1. Irving’s life and ministry unravels as the “gifts” increase.
    1. A church member, Robert Baxter, believes he has received a prophecy to leave his wife and family because they refuse to believe in tongues.
    2. Irving consistently taught the people that whenever they had any doubt, they must immediately count it as the voice of Satan.
    3. Eventually, Baxter received such strange revelations that failed so often, he concluded that all these “gifts” were not from God.
    4. 1832 The Presbyterian Church rebukes and removes Irving from his church and from the entire denomination.
    5. Though he was not a Presbyterian anymore, 800 people followed him in continued charismatic teaching.
    6. They renovated a new building with six galleries: first apostles, second prophets, third elders, fourth evangelists, fifth deacons, and sixth Edward Irving, the mere messenger.
    7. About this time, different members of the “Gifted Ones” begin to give up their views on the gifts.
    8. Miss Hall declared that she practiced at home to “speak in tongues” in public.
    9. Baxter wrote a book confessing his error and the errors of the church.
    10. Pilkington who had been an unbeliever wrote a book denouncing the church.
    11. On receiving these defections, Irving wrote, “Keep your conscience unfettered by your understanding.”
    12. When Irving’s assistant pastor left the church, Irving replied, “Your intellect has destroyed you.” To which the man replied, “Yes, Sir, I confess it. My intellect has done the deed. … I am responsible for the use of my intellect and I have used it.”
    13. When some said there were both true and false prophecies, Irving answered that the true were from God and the false were from Satan.
    14. Eventually, the prophets and apostles told Irving what to do.
    15. He wasted away with tuberculosis even while telling himself that he was being healed. He believed that he would be healed right until he died.
    1. The descendants of Irving’s theology still live on.
    1. The Pentecostal Movement 1901
      1. Baptism in the Spirit as a second work of grace
      2. Marked by speaking in tongues, Agnes Ozman first.
    2. The Charismatic Movement 1960
      1. Ecumenism
      2. “gifts” in all denominations
    3. The Signs and Wonders Movement 1985
      1. Third Wave of the Spirit
      2. John Wimber’s Power Evangelism
    4. The Word Faith Movement
      1. Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Joyce Meyers, etc.
      2. Prosperity Gospel
    1. Lessons from Irving’s life
      1. A ministry uncontrolled by a confession of faith is in great danger of false doctrine.
      2. An impulse to sensationalism, entertainment, or fame has nothing to do with the Christian ministry, the gospel of Jesus Christ, or the power of the Spirit.
      3. Our lives and ministries must be strictly Biblical.
      4. Biblical theology requires careful precision.
      5. A mind that is not tightly tethered to the words of Scripture will be open to every silly or passing wind.
      6. Perhaps the best defense against false doctrine is a life and ministry relentlessly focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
    Posted in Biography, Book reviews | Tagged , | 1 Comment

    6 Christian Ways to Think About Death

    Posted on 17 December 2024 by Seth Meyers

    The New Testament presents a view of death that is very different from the majority of the world’s population. Christians are under obligation to by degrees remove worldly thinking—and death is one of the ways that Christians are most tempted with the sin of worldliness. When a man becomes a believer, when he experiences a second birth, when he is called, when the Father draws him, when new life comes in and expels the death, then his thinking about death must change in 6 ways.

    1. Jesus Christ desired His people to leave this world.

    John 17:24

    Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

    The Son of God desires that all those given by the Father to the Son would be with Him. There are only two ways for a believer to have this statement fulfilled today: Either Jesus will return and so we will forever be with our Lord, or the Christian must die.

    Christians should desire what Jesus desired. So we should desire above all else to be with Him where He is. To desire this is to desire all things that necessarily bring this about, and that means to desire—in some sense—death.

    1. Godly men desire death.

    Philippians 1:20-23

    20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24 yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

    2 Corinthians 5:1-8

    1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

    Romans 8:23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

    Do we have the spirituality of the apostle? Do we desire to depart? Is death a gain in our eyes? Do we groan for the next life? Do we prefer to be absent from our bodies? Can we talk the way he talked? Do we see our only reason to stay on earth as a chance to build up the church?

    Not only did the Spirit inspire these words, but these two passages both state and restate the theme so that the mind of the Spirit in this matter is very clear. Further, these epistles were written when he was between 55 and 65 years old. He had time to reflect on life, and after writing it once to the Corinthians he wrote it again and again very clearly so that there would be no doubt about his eagerness to die.

    1. Godly men have no unique preference to live more than to die.

    Acts 20:24 But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself,

    Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

    Romans 14:8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

    2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

    Paul did not try to live longer though he had not yet broken 70 years. He hoped to see Christ, to receive a reward, and to live in Heaven (4:8, 18).

    2 Peter 1:14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

    Peter also was told that he would die, and yet he records no hesitation, no request for prayer, and no reference to live a longer life. Stephen died praying, but he did not pray to be healed or delivered.

    1. We are not afraid of death.

    Hebrews 2:15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

    1 Corinthians 15:54-55 “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?”

    1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

    1. We view death as a kind of sleep.

    “Lazarus is asleep,” Jesus told his disciples, and again, “The damsel is not dead, but sleeps.” Stephen fell asleep. Church members at Corinth fell asleep. Paul called death sleep 3 times when writing to the Thessalonians. This is more than a polite way to talk; waking from sleep is a Christian metaphor of resurrection, the briefness of the grave, and the passing nature of death.

    If this is really what death is, then it ought not to be feared or particularly shunned, unless to do so would be laziness. Some men sleep when they should be working. If we are called to serve our families and our churches, then we must be wide awake, fully committed to the work, and in no way encouraging the drowsiness that may come over us.

    Let us keep our bodies healthy. Let us stay safe and protect life. Let us labor with every breath for every day that God permits. But if His calendar marked our deaths for today, it is merely sleep that a good Father put on the agenda for His beloved child.

    1. We are looking forward to the next life.

    More than a dozen times, Hebrews says things like “the next world” or “looking for a city whose builder is God,” or “a better country” and a “kingdom which cannot be shaken.” Jesus returns only for those who are looking for Him (Heb. 9:28).

    You must set your heart on things above, not on things on the earth, because you are already dead (Col. 3:1-2).

    If you love either the world or its stuff, you are not a Christian (1 John 2:15).

    It has already been prophesied that we will not only be hated and persecuted (John 15:18-21), but killed (Luke 21:16; Rev. 6:11).

    The entire flow of the NT is toward the next world, not this one. What can we logically deduce from this?

    Our minds and hearts should be very glad to enter the next world. But since there are only two entrances to that world, let us look eagerly for either of them. Jesus’ return is our blessed hope (Tit. 2:13), and death is a more difficult yet still effective doorway to reach what we really want.

    Conclusions

    1. Unbelievers do not see death this way.

    They cannot see death this way because they secretly know and hate God. He is to them the greatest Terror. They have no hope, and so despair ties them as a rope. They must be objects of our pity. We must run to them, not walk. We must hazard any risk since their doom is certain.

    1. Believers may judge their love for God in part by their views of death.

    The heart loves correctly when he is eager at any cost to reach his Savior. Death is therefore a minor disturbance, and even something to be anticipated. This door brings us to the permanent world, the real life, and the presence of our Savior.

    Far from making us lazy, such a view would make us poor out a torrent of prayers, money, and sons to the mission field. Why not? If nothing is so real as the next world, if death is a log to be leapt over by grace before entering the real path, then who would not devote himself to a few brief years of service?

    But far more than this, if we are able to see death this way, the faith that gives us such eyes, would also send us with the speed of sunbeams to the darkest places. “Death, I fear thee not, but rather welcome thee when my Master is pleased to end my labors.”

    Posted in Orthopathy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

    5 Common Marks of Rural African Churches

    Posted on 11 December 2024 by Seth Meyers

    In war, the most important news and updates concern the conflict. The great reality beyond all others in Africa is the spiritual war where gazing angels are dazzled by the grace they see when true believers meet (Eph. 3:10). When the 2 Tsonga believers meet in the little village of Tiyani, there is more eternal profit than the earthly pomp at the meeting of the African Union.

    So, as one foot soldier in the trenches on the Tsonga and Venda front, I report today on five marks that I have seen over and over in churches that use an African language. If you are able to hold a conversation with a Tsonga church goer, my experience says you will see these five marks emerge.

    Arbitrary

    When I say arbitrary, I mean a standard not resting on a solid rock. That definition is itself contradictory—something cannot be a standard if it is changeable, but that is the kind of standards that I have seen over and over.

    • Mhana Kulani in Basani is not allowed to listen to street preaching anymore because her husband died and both her church and culture forbid her to set foot outside her yard.
    • Johanna came to our churchplant while she was pregnant because the ZCC where she had been worshipping refused to alllow “ugly women” (Tsonga idiom for a pregnant woman, “u bihile”) to attend until months after the birth.
    • Pathutshedzo and a group of others was required to pay a fee before being baptized in the river in Valdezia.
    • At the recent conference celebrating the 150 year anniversary of the Presbyterian missionaries among the Tsongas, I held an interview with one of the leading pastors. He told me that women can be pastors in the churches even though long ago they were not allowed. I asked if men could marry men, which he vehemently denied. But then, “What about when times change, like with women preachers?” Laughing, he said we will see in time.
    • Worse, speaking with another pastor from the village where I built my home, he agreed with me that there are many false pastors. When I asked him how he could know who was false, and who was true, he replied that no one could know if a man was a false pastor. To which, I offered a string of examples, “The ZCC? Jehovah’s Witnesses? Islamic mosques?” To each of these he answered, “We cannot judge.” A man who attended this pastor’s church had been listening to me preach on the streets in order to receive a free Bible. After my interview with the pastor, his member never returned to the street preaching.
    • Another pastor wearing his church uniform told me that neither he nor anyone in his church read the Bible because that was something only for their leading bishop. Since the deception is usually more hidden than this, I was stunned. But he agreed to my request to video him with this “anti-Bible” testimony.
    • A woman that I baptized came out from a shack church where she testified that the pastor offered to give her a discount on her tithe if she would grant him conjugal benefits whenever he passed by.
    • Another pastor showed me video of his church while standing with his wife. “How long have you been married,” I asked. “Oh, we’ve been living together for a few years, but we hope to get married in the future.”

    The will of the pastor, or the custom of the people, or the fickle mood of the age: these hold authority, and so the church is arbitrary. Of course, this stands against Sola Scriptura as the mere “commandments and doctrines of men.”

    Eudaemonic

    I first read this word in a hundred-year-old book describing Tsonga culture by one of the first Presbyterian missionaries. He said the Tsonga religion “is purely eudaemonistic, the religious ceremonies having as their sole aim material benefits connected with the terrestrial life, e. g. abundance, health, peace, and good sleep!” (Junod, vol. 2, p. 428, emphasis added) The word pertains to comfort and happiness in this life.

    After having preached the gospel repeatedly on a street, I will ask the 10-20 people from Revelation 20:15, “Is your name in the book of life? ‘Yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘I don’t know’?” Then on the whiteboard, I will record their answers in those 3 categories in front of everyone. Most people say, “I don’t know.” Commonly I will have 12 or more marks on that line, and only 1 or 2 on the other lines.

    Then after pleading with them to turn to Christ, look to Jesus, see His blood and His love, cast themselves on Him, give themselves to be His servant and even His slave, I ask in closing, How can I pray for you? Commonly, I hear answers like, “Pray that my child would pass in school,” or “I need a job.” It is a mark that the message is striking home when some ask for prayer to be written in the book of life, or to have new hearts.

    The prosperity gospel has soared to popularity only because it brings no new affections. They previously loved comfort, and this message speaks much about what they had already loved. Now churches can keep what they always wanted, and also sound modern and Western by using terms like Bible, accept Jesus, and church.

    Every Christian knows that to love the world or the things in the world is to prove that the love of the Father is not in you. What then should our verdict be regarding a class of churches that clearly loves the world and its things?

    Fearful

    Most Tsongas fear witchcraft the way Americans fear the government: Get away as much as possible, and when you do get near me, you frighten me.

    • Mr. Maleti told me that at his previous church, the pastor warned all the people that if they stepped out from his “umbrella of protection” very bad things would happen to them.
    • The majority of people surveyed at the ZCC testified that they attended that church out of fear of disease and hope that the church could provide a kind of spiritual medical scheme for them.
    • Today as I evangelized in Basani, I met a 50 year old pastor who said openly that he fears witchcraft.
    • On my “bad theology” shelf, sits the title Dealing with Gangsterism In Your Life by a Tsonga pastor. The volume is occupied with protecting church members from earthly problems.
    • A famous woman pastor an hour away from my house claimed that at her church, women would not get AIDS even if they committed fornication.
    • Another book I have offers hundreds of short prayers to keep you safe from curses, witchcraft, and the spirit of sickness.

    Since poverty is the constant fear of the majority of attenders, the churches treat those fears as their “competitive advantage” to staying home or choosing other religions.

    Oral

    To this point, I have never met a pastor who has admitted to having read even the entire New Testament. Many Bibles go to church, but few are used at church or home. This may be the most difficult aspect of coming to one of our churchplants: You are expected to read the Bible consistently.

    In most churches, traditions are passed down, but not written down. Songs spring from media and public artists, but rarely from men who work through a text and try to arrange the words beautifully. Because of this there are many variations of the Venda song, “Kha Vha Rendwe” (Let Him be praised) which runs for more than 5 minutes with only 11 words. And since Venda’s pronouns are neuter, it does not even communicate the masculine glory of the Father.

    Rhetoric, the art of using language persuasively, takes on a special life when it is not bound to specific texts. I have heard the word “Fire” shouted dozens of times in succession at a crusade. Or another man raise his voice to announce, “I’m not going to talk about Hell because we all just want to be happy.” Of course, if the men in these examples were not offering impromptu demonstrations of what they had seen on TV, but actual expositions of passages one after another, they could not use words this way.

    Legalistic

    Paul wrote Galatians to a group of churches that had been infiltrated by men who taught justification by works. This is the default position of nearly all churches that I have found. When my wife and I moved into Makhongele village in 2006, our neighbors, the Khosa family, 3 houses away asked us why we had come. When we told them we wanted to teach about the new birth, the wife replied, “Oh, like baptism?” “No, Ma’am, we mean depending on the work of Christ, not a good work that men can do.”

    Could Amy or I ever forget how Mr. Khosa shook his head saying, “These people will never get details like that”? Of course, we know that these people can get details like that when the gospel comes to them in power.

    One of the famous songs that nearly everyone knows says, “It does not take money, but good works to get to Heaven.” Churches sing this song on Sundays and at funerals. The link shows a video of 6 minutes repeating these words, while crosses are on the walls and the signs on the stage say, “The year of grace … To win souls of people”. Would Paul the apostle call this another gospel? Would he support this as singing spiritual songs (Col. 3:16)?

    Conclusion

    After many years of work in Tsonga and Venda, speaking to normal church members and pastors, five marks have emerged over and over so as to stain the religion in this area the way the Catholic Mass marks Italy. Until the nature of non-English churches is firmly understood by English-speaking churches in Africa, we will probably go on assuming these people groups actually have a significant number of true Christians and churches, and thus we will not send workers.

    Posted in Accounts of African Religion, Missions | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

    The Longest Sentence in the New Testament

    Posted on 2 December 2024 by Seth Meyers

    With 218 words, Paul’s letter to the Colossians has the longest sentence in the New Testament, and perhaps in the Bible. This sentence is 16 words longer than the sentence in Ephesians 1:3-14, but they are very similar since he wrote them from prison at about the same time.

    From verse 9 to verse 20 of chapter 1, Paul writes a prayer to the Christians in Colossians whom he has never met. All the believers are first generation, and the church is only a few years old.

    The sentence skeleton is simply, “We do not stop.” What two things does the apostle do ceaselessly? 1:9

    1. Paul PRAYS,
    2. Paul ASKS,

    What is he asking for in 1:9? He asks for 1 thing, but he uses 3 different words to restate and clarify it:

    1. These new Christians would be filled with the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL,
    2. These new Christians would be filled with ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM,
    3. These new Christians would be filled with ALL SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING,

    If this 1 request repeated with 3 synonyms were answered in your life, you would know it by 5 results. 1:10-12

    1. You will WALK WORTHY of the Lord,
    2. You will BE FRUITFUL in every good work,
    3. You will INCREASE in the knowledge of God,
    4. You will BE STRENGTHENED with all power,
    5. You will GIVE THANKS,

    The last result is a grateful spirit, and there are 4 reasons to be grateful. 1:12-14

    1. Grateful to SHARE the inheritance,
    2. Grateful to BE RESCUED from darkness,
    3. Grateful to BE TRANSLATED into His Kingdom,
    4. Grateful to BE REDEEMED through His blood,

    The last reason to be grateful is salvation in Christ, and there are 10 glories of the Son of God. 1:14-20

    1. Christ is glorious since He is the IMAGE OF GOD,
    2. Christ is glorious since He is the FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION,
    3. Christ is glorious since He CREATED OF ALL THINGS,
    4. Christ is glorious since He is BEFORE ALL THINGS,
    5. Christ is glorious since He HOLDS ALL THINGS together,
    6. Christ is glorious since He is the HEAD OF THE CHURCH,
    7. Christ is glorious since He is the FIRST FROM THE DEAD,
    8. Christ is glorious since He HOLDS FIRST PLACE in all things,
    9. Christ is glorious since He CARRIES ALL FULLNESS,
    10. Christ is glorious since He RECONCILES ALL THINGS.

    As I reflect on this prayer, it challenges my devotion, proves the truth of Christianity, and sets a goal for spirituality.

    • If you tried to summarize the whole Christian religion in one sentence could you do better?
    • Does any other religion have such a stimulating, interesting, philosophical, universal, selfless, altruistic, model of prayer?
    • If you had one prayer request to make, would this be your petition?
    • If every Christian asked for this and were answered, what would our world look like?
    Posted in Orthopathy, Pastoral | Tagged , | Leave a comment