![]() Even as I write this - I blush at the thought of such a bold statement. But I do not make it because I think “I” have that word. What I want to do for the next couple of weeks is to make a clear exposition of God’s Word. The message was for the time of Israel - well over 2500 years ago - during the time of political names like Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. That was when Micah spoke, yet his words ring down through the ages to the time of the 21st century. We would be wise to heed the message given by this prophet - because it has striking parallels to today. Since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever - it would also be wise to remember that He judges all the nations in the end - not just those of 8th century B.C. JEHOVAH GOD IS COMING . . . This was the beginning of Micah’s message. It was not a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ in the end times. It was a call to see God coming upon that generation. God’s coming was a disturbing thing to see. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. Valleys will be split like wax before a fire like water poured down from the steep mountains As He came to Sinai in His glory and power - He is coming again to us. But “why” is He coming? That is what Micah answered here in this first chapter. God is coming because of the rebellion of His people - for their sin. What was their sin? God says is was because of Samaria and the high place of Judah. What may shock us is that these were places of worship. Samaria was the center of the false religion of Israel that was set up by a former king who made up his own religion for the people to follow. Jerusalem was referred to as “the high place of Judah.” Yes the temple was there - the very one God said to build. But - Judah had turned the worship of the true and living God into a farce - a fraud. It had become “their religion” rather than what God intended. God told them He was going to make these places a ruin. All of it was going to be burned and the idols of their own making - would be smashed. The money - all the money collected by these religious organizations - were called “harlot’s earnings.” They had prostituted God - especially His worship and what He desired to do among and in the people. In the end - it all was going to be gone. MICAH IS WEEPING . . . Micah wept as he saw the vision of this. The Word of the Lord was clear. This all was coming down - and would be destroyed. The people of Israel and Judah may have rejoiced in their false religion - but God was grieved by it. Micah grieved too - as he knew it was coming to an end - a very bad one. He spoke of how it was going to be taken - the gate would fall - the people would be taken into captivity - and destruction was coming. All this . . . because of their sin. They had used God for their own ends - and in the end - God was going to have none of it. Micah called their wounds, “incurable.” The sin had reached all the way to Jerusalem - it was affecting the whole nation - both Israel and Judah. He didn’t want it told to their enemies. He warned them they would become weak waiting for the good to come. Things were going downward - and they would continue to do so. God was bringing calamity to them. But before we give up completely we should understand something very clearly. God was doing this because He loved them. They were not the nations - they were His people - and they were a part of His covenant. When they rebelled - God promised He would bring discipline on them. It would be stern and was designed to turn them from their evil to seek God again. It is something we should remember - that there is actually hope. But that hope is for those who repent and turn from evil. That hope is for those who return to their God - to worship Him in truth as He is revealed in Scripture. Their self-made religion would have to go. The extent of the judgment was often based on the extent of their rebellion and stubbornness. WHAT ABOUT US? Is America any better than Israel and Judah of the 8th century BC? Unfortunately we are not. The religion of our day has steadily moved away from the God of the Scriptures. We’ve taken God and have given Him a supposed upgrade (downgrade is the truth). Today we are blind to what is happening in the world. We are blind to the financial meltdown that IS coming. We blew through the 15 and 20 trillion dollar debt barriers like they were nothing. We think we will continue in prosperity and plenty - while our debt is shaking the financial pillars which were already cracked and faltering. We continue in gross sin - both sexual sin and religious sin. We now call acceptable what God calls immorality - we are hardly concerned at the continued murder of the innocents, as well as the injustice to the innocent - and we continue in a religious hypocrisy that justifies hating those who oppose what we “believe” and stand for - being far too politically minded and far less concerned at the powerlessness of the church. Indeed God is coming - not in the second coming of Christ. That day is also fast approaching. But the coming of God to America sounds like the coming promised to Israel and Judah in Micah’s day. It is a fearful thing - what is coming. He comes to judge the earth (something He is praised for in the Psalms - but often escapes our worship-lite songs where the word “I” is used far more than His great name). Whether we grasp it or not - mountains melt like wax - valleys split - rocks tremble - and the oceans are troubled at the sound of His arrival. It will not be a judgment upon “them” - but rather a judgment upon “us.” It is meant to discipline and call us to Him anew. It is meant to purify His sons and daughters. It will call us away from selfishness and self-centered religion - and call us to the centrality of the gospel - making it known to a generation that desperately needs to hear it. They need to hear it - but won’t until they first SEE it in our lives. RESPONSE? What should be our response? It should be as Micah’s response. We should weep over what is coming - and what has come before leading up to it. Our hearts should be broken over the “nones” who want nothing to do with God because of what they’ve seen from the outside of the church. We should also be broken over the “dones” - who are done with religion, with the Bible, and with God because of what they’ve seen from the inside of the church. We should first fall to our own knees - crying out to God for a return - that our hearts would return to Him. We should also cry for Him to be exalted once gain in our thinking - in our hearts - and in our churches. I need to give you a loving warning if you continue to read this set of posts about Micah. This is going to be a difficult set of articles to read - but I promise that I will do my best to only write what is written in the Scriptures. There will also be precious promises for those who return - of God’s restoration among His people who repent. But I write these things as one who is very aware that such a message as this is not common - nor is it very welcome in our day - in the days of Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump. Honestly though - it is so very needed - even as it was in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
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![]() Dear Michael, Recently I read an article where you stated that you could no longer believe that God is directly responsible for the creation of the universe. I will have to admit that I read this from a facebook post which quoted a Christian news site. Having been burnt by this kind of “gotcha-journalism” before, I knew I needed to read your original blog from which this article quoted. Based on reading this entire post, I would like to respond to your blog entitled, “What Do We Believe?” Your article deeply concerns me – not just because of your lack of belief in the Creator and His revelation to us of how He created the heavens and the earth. My concern goes deeper than that. My greatest concern is on the way you cleverly dismiss the Bible as an authority because it is about belief, and yet tout yourself and modern-day science as a fitting replacement, Your arguments in this blog post take on the appearance of wisdom and ‘well thought out’ reasonings. The problem one finds while reading them is that, in the end, they are based on little more than a false premise that you are a free thinker without an ultimate authority. Your reason alone (informed by scientists who are smart enough to reject biblical creation and hold fast to evolutionary theory) leads you to your premises unlike those who hold the Bible as an authoritative book in all matters of faith and practice. You make an interesting statement early in your article. You state, “. . . pretty much everything is a belief because everything we know is built upon assumptions.” After this seemingly wise statement you speak of what happens when “some of what you built the words and concepts on – no longer exists.” From this dubious vantage point you begin to speak of God, the Bible, the book of Genesis – and eventually even whether what we believe about God is even important. What is fascinating is that you then use “your own words” to convince us not to judge or make distinctions based on what we may or may not believe to be God’s words (i.e. the Bible itself). Even though you seek to present some self-deprecating views of yourself, you do little more than replace one authority with another. What is truly fascinating when I read this article is that in the end – I become the authority over myself – just as you become the ultimate authority over yourself. You and I define our own words. You and I also choose to decide if our former definition of words were true – or were imposed upon us by others (in your case those who taught you the Bible in Christian school and church). You approach biblical authority with the greatest of skepticism while embracing current scientific theory as factual. What you have done in your really cool and open minded article is trade one form of authority for a different one. Whereas people like myself who CAN believe in a God-created universe – Adam and Eve – a 6000 year old earth – a literal world-wide flood – and personally my favorite, “naked people in a garden eating an apple being responsible for the death of the dinosaurs.” (Isn’t it interesting when you want to prove other people to be stupid – you not only denigrate their beliefs – you mock them by mis-stating them.) While we are held up to a very high-minded form of ridicule (notice the NOTE below), your particular views are help up as enlightened, gracious, and far more believable. We are seen as those who hold fast to defined words – while you are seen as one who is more interested in how someone lives. Your “healthy beliefs” are then given credit for leading to a “lifestyle” defined by caring attitudes about your neighbor, ministering and caring for the poor, and living according to James chapter 2 (which evidently IS God’s Word?). We are left thinking that we should reject the Bible as a literal authority (quite an authoritative thought, don’t you think) and be more loving and kind (at least how you define loving and kind – which considering the neighbor and poor stuff is hard to argue with – you know). What we actually get is a view where WE become our own authority – at least the “we” that agrees with modern scientific theory. I don’t hate you Michael – and neither do I know whether you are lost or saved at this point. All I’ve done is read your article – and yet that article concerns me greatly. It does because it presents the same lie that caused our world to end up in the mess it is in today. “Has God said?” is the lie to which I refer. The original lie was to distrust God’s Word – and instead decide that WE would make a much better god over ourselves. Isn’t that what Satan said to Eve? “God knows that in the day that you eat it – you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” How we live (which seems to be your way of determining what is best) is derived from what we believe to be truth. If truth then is solely in the eye of the beholder – because us-forbid we’d actually believe God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible – then isn’t it true that the beholder becomes God in the end? That is little more than a 6000 year old lie repackaged in really cool blog post. [NOTE: Yes, Adam and Eve were naked. No, they did not eat an apple – the Bible simply states it was fruit. Yes, the Fall of man into sin precipitated death in our world. No, the dinosaurs were not singled out in this judgment upon sin – and its effects on the earth. BUT . . . when lacing these facts and mental inventions together it does make the Bible accounts sound sufficiently stupid doesn’t it? How you state something truly does have an effect on how believable someone else views it. Imagine if I referred to evolutionary theory in a similar way. It is little more than believing that, “Everything came about as a result of nothing being done by no one for absolutely no reason at all.”] Secession in America . . . What Issues Truly Hinder Unity? by Greg Smith, elder at Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro
Recently, there has been a buzz about states seceding from the Union. Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand. Some may wonder what the division really is. It seems to me that the nation is divided at so many levels. A level that is particularly interesting to me is moral compromise at the very heart of our supposed reason for existence as a nation. Certainly, many will see the biggest issue as the economy, the environment, gun rights or foreign policy. Though these are important, I believe one of the greatest issues is hypocrisy to our foundational principles. Whatever people's motives, the situation is similar to the Civil War. The seed of the Civil War was sown by compromising that all men (people) had an inalienable right to liberty. Now we compromise that all people have an inalienable right to life. The former slave, Fredrick Douglas, said, "No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck." Likewise, one cannot devalue the life of an unborn baby without at last finding that one's own life has lost its value. We teach kids that life is an accident and then are surprised when they put no value on it. Or we teach kids there is a God, but set the example that we don't need to seek Him with all our hearts or be all that concerned to believe and obey Him in every way. But, Jesus knows how inconsistent I have been in so many ways. I thank God that He has and does change me from what I would be without Him. But someone may argue that there are always divisions and the acceptance of different opinions makes America great. Certainly there are always divisions in this world, but there are times when divisions are so deep that they will cause some kind of break down. Ignorance is always a charge that can be leveled against anyone, because we are all "guilty" to some degree (otherwise, we'd have to claim to know everything). But, we all have some knowledge. I'm trying to use such knowledge as I have, while depending on God's perfect knowledge, to see what the most important issues and divisions are. I don't think we are seeing just minor divisions, but major ones that are threatening the very foundation of the nation. One example of this would be the way we are becoming increasingly secular (atheistic) in our official government positions. This will ultimately undermine our Declaration of Independence and the inalienable rights that come from the Creator. It was a basically Christian view of God that led to the words in our Declaration of Independence. A fundamentally different view of God (including atheism) challenges everything we stand for including rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. During the Democratic National Conventioin this became a major issue. As I understand it the Democratic party recently voted as to whether they would continue to officially recognize God in their party platform. Accroding to the moderator the vote passed to put God back into their platform. But the reality of that moment was that the voice vote seemed just as loud to remove God from it. Unless something changes, I believe the time is coming where they won't and maybe no political party will. Once again, this strikes at the very heart of everything our national existence is based on. Divisions and differences will always exist. But there is a fundamental difference betweeen my wife and I not agreeing over where we eat supper - and the two of us disagreeing as to whether our marriage was ever legal and is valid. We can eventually agree to disagree about where we eat - but there can be no such agreement on the second issue. It is fundamental to the core of our relationship. Likewise, some political divisions are relatively small, but issues of God or the nature of basic human rights are not small. They are things that will eventually create secessionist sentiments in our country. Division is hopeless without assuming there is a right unity that could be achieved. Why discuss anything without the idea that there is one truth to arrive at? The freedom to have an opinion and voice it is a different thing from considering all opinions as equal or truth. Atheists are welcome in America as persons. But, their personal opinion contradicts everything America is built on just as much as someone who uses freedom of speech to try to abolish the Constitution. Their right to speak is protected, but the idea they express contradicts their own right to speak. They saw on the limb that holds them up and if they succeed both will fall together. Atheists are protected in America as endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights whether they believe that statement or not. They are protected by a principle that they fight against. But, if atheism becomes our official position (as seems to be gradually happening), then America does not need to define itself by the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights or any such thing. America is deeply divided over even how to define itself and whether God is important or not in that self-definition. America is being interpreted as a place where all views are to be accepted as just as valid as the ideas on which the nation was built. If America stands for everything (all opinions) in theory, then it will stand for nothing in practice. Long ago God asked, "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" It seems to me that we are now divided by definition because we don't see the need for unity on some very deep issues. We can all walk in different directions with different goals, but we can't call that unity or expect that to produce much more than selfishness. People either accept God's definition of Himself, life, & marriage or they follow human redefinitions of those things. To make something clear, my solution is not to force everyone to be a Christian. But as a Christian, I'm just pointing out that the effects of not following Christ will be division. The further away people get from Him, they will either become more divided or will suffer some forced plan of unity (as in Communism, Fascism, Islam and even false expressions of Christianity) where people are forced to comply with the dominant party’s ideas. Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of truly ridiculous statements being made – and not being challenged for the foolishness that they are. In an effort to expose these statements for what they are, I am going to institute a monthly award to be given out to those who make them. The name of my award is the “Doofus of the Month” award. It will go to the person whose statement truly exhibits all the very best (or worst, if you think about it) of doofus thinking.
The initial winner of the “Doofus of the Month” award is Richard Dawkins. Recently Dawkins was quoted in an interview with the UK Guardian as making the following statement. “Jesus was a great moral teacher and I was suggesting that somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known what we know today.” Let’s look at why Mr. Dawkins deserves this award for his truly amazing “Doofus Thinking.” First of all, if we are going to take an honest look at Jesus, we can only do so on the basis of the teachings given to us in the Gospels. It is our original source material on Jesus Christ, what He said, and Who He is. The gospels assume – and go to great lengths to prove that Jesus is God Himself. There are numerous statements attributed to Jesus of Nazareth in which He calls Himself God. Therefore for Jesus Christ to one moment state that He is God – and in the next (at least in Dawkins' thinking) deny even the existence of God at all – would make Jesus Christ one of two things. He is either a spiritual schizophrenic, or worse, a charlatan of the highest order. This then pokes serious holes in Dawkin’s statement that Jesus was a great moral teacher. As C. S. Lewis asserted, if we take Jesus at His Words in the Gospels, we are left with one of three conclusions. Jesus Christ is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. If someone is crazy enough to call himself God when he is not - even willing to die a horrendous death on a cross for it - he is not a good moral teacher - he is nuts. So, Mr. Dawkins, Jesus has to be one of the two - He is either insane or He is Who He says He is - God. Those of us who are Christians believe that His teachings, His works (miracles), His fulfillment of prophecy, and ultimately His resurrection prove He is the latter. The second thing that truly manifests “Doofus Thinking” of the first order is Dawkin’s comments that if Jesus knew what we knew, He would be an atheist. It is hard to decide if this is more “doofus thinking,” or just arrogance reaching to new heights. Truly this man sees himself as superior in his scientific thinking than the rest of us lowly unscientific serfs. Dawkins lifts the current world as superior in knowledge to any that ever existed – and evidently sees himself as high priest of such knowledge. This is how he can utter such absolutist statements about the intelligence of Jesus – and how it was inferior to our own. How else could a great moral teacher make such gargantuan blunders in advancing belief in God – when of course the enlightened ones of our current age have made such belief obsolete with their infallible science and its discoveries. The God revealed in the Bible is represented by that revelation as omniscient (Mr. Dawkins, that means He is all-knowing). Jesus manifest that omniscience by knowing what His detractors were thinking. We learn in Philippians 2 that Jesus, being God of very God, chose to lay aside His attributes. He emptied Himself and took upon the form of a servant, being made in human form. He did so to eventually bear the sin of the world – and pay the full measure of punishment and wrath due that sin. But in no way does that mean Jesus was just too simple-minded and dumb to not realize there wasn’t a God – and He wasn’t Him. Mr Dawkins also has a problem with his reasoning - because he asserts that there is a thing such as a "great moral teacher". That assumes that there is good moral teaching - or at least a set of morals that should be embraced as better than other morals. Unfortunately for him an atheistic evolutionary view of the world militates against even the existence of morals. Classic evolutionary theory is founded upon a world that has one moral code. That code is the advancement of superior species, and the ultimate extinction of inferior ones. It is even wrong to suggest that this is moral in any way - because this advancement of superior species is totally random and happens only because life is perpetuating itself. The existence of morals assumes someone who can speak with authority as to why one behavior or choice is superior to another. In Dawkins' atheistic, evolutionary model no such authority exists. It would be more consistent for Dawkins to say that Jesus was a bigoted, authoritarian, arrogant man who had the audacity to assume his moral positions were superior to what another person considered their own truth. If Jesus were a true atheist, the first thing he would shed would be the moral assertions of his own teachings. He could hold such a moral code for himself - but to assert that others should hold it as superior to their own thoughts and desires would be the height of arrogance and religious bigotry. Only a "doofus thinker" wants to have it both ways. Mr. Dawkin’s statement defies any kind of reason in its assertion. He simply is defining himself as the ultimate authority on God. His statements lack credibility because, as one who rejects absolute truth, he himself is making absolute statements about God. In so doing he is making himself “god” in the process (well at least god over all thoughts and belief systems about God). One has to wonder if one day in the future other, far more enlightened scientists will one day state that if Mr. Dawkins knew what they knew, he would not have held his own views in such high esteem – thus making him an “A-Dawkin-ist.” Congratulations Mr. Dawkins! You are our very first "Doofus of the Month!" |
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