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God’s Highest Law

November 19, 2015 / Allan Babcock

“You will have died and resurrected three times and still be trying to figure out [how many federal criminal laws exist today],” said Ronald Gainer, a retired (U.S.) Justice Department official (The Wall Street Journal, 2011. In the first century Jews could and did count Torah laws (Genesis–Deuteronomy): 615 commandments—365 “You shall not’s” and 248 “You shall’s”. A pittance compared to the U.S., but still formidable. And a daunting challenge to determine the most important one.

Should I care? Since God created the heavens and earth and all that’s in them (Revelation 10:6), and will hold each of us personally accountable regarding how we have lived as his creatures (Romans 14:10b-12), we’d better. Knowing God’s highest law, then, isn’t academic, but life and death.

It’s Tuesday before Jesus’ Friday crucifixion. Conflict between Jesus and Jewish authorities publicly is boiling. A failed onslaught in the temple courtyard from authorities trying to prove Jesus a fraud has quieted (11:27-12:27). Now a law-teacher, impressed at Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees, asks, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions (Mark 12:28-34).

Jesus answers immediately. No research hours at the seminary library. No search time at Google. “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Jesus takes his answer from Deuteronomy 6:4,5. Known as the Shema (sha-ma), from the Hebrew for “hear”, this was the signal creed of Israel’s faith recited by devoted Jews every morning and evening. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

When I think of “love” I think of Lois—53 years of married love. I think of my three adult children —and reminisce about raising-experiences. And I think of my 8 grandchildren—the joy they bring, the treasures they are. “Love” is affectionate, emotional. I get teary-eyed with wonder. “Love” is also protective, strong. I’d lay down my life for them.

When I try to grasp what Jesus means by “love the Lord your God”, I page back to Deuteronomy since Jesus answered from there. The book records the renewal of the Sinai Covenant with the second generation that came out of Egypt. I read what P.C. Craigie wrote about ancient covenants: “A number of scholars have argued convincingly that there is a relationship in form between the Hebrew covenant and the ancient Near Eastern vassal treaty . . . The Hebrews adapted the treaty form for their own use in order to express the nature of their relationship to God” (The New International Commentary, The Book of Deuteronomy). I read William L. Moran’s insightful statement” “‘Love’ in ancient Near Eastern political covenants means allegiance to a sovereign, the opposite of which is treason” (“The Ancient Near Eastern Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy”).

And I remember learning how, after conquering another tribe or nation, a Near Eastern king offered them a treaty. He would provide them with all the benefits of his reign, if they would “love” him—that is, if they would pledge their allegiance to him.

It’s then I begin to understand God’s highest commandment. His law declares, “Love me with all your being—heart, soul, mind and strength.” That love is emotional. How could it not be? But at its core it’s allegiance to the Lord our God who has conquered me and pledged to provide me all the benefits of his reign. And that allegiance isn’t like a Nazi swearing devotion to his fuehrer; it’s a sinner pledging devotion to the God who first loved him.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus takes this answer from Leviticus 19:18–“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” No self-justifying question here as in Luke 10 (“Who is my neighbor?”) The law-teacher is impressed. “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

The answer reveals the ceremonial religion opposed by this connected-commandment. To love God and to love my neighbor are more important than water baptism or the Lord’s Supper, just as they were more important than Israel’s burnt offerings and sacrifices. To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is to love him with all our being.

And to love my neighbor as myself is to want the same good for my neighbor I want for me. Is my neighbor poor? I should share. Is my neighbor ill? I should bring chicken soup. Is my neighbor lonely? I should bring myself. Wanting the same good for my neighbor as I do for me implies helping him have it.

A young couple recently moved in next door. Lois met them. I’m ashamed to say I don’t even know their names. But God’s most important two-part law is love them!

“Lord it is my chief complaint that my love is cold and faint;
Yet I love Thee and adore; O for grace to love Thee more”
(William Cowper, 1773-1800).

“Lord, most days I don’t even think about my neighbors:
Yet I want to obey your highest law; O for grace to love the people next door.”
(Allan Babcock, 1943–)

Is Paris Burning?

November 18, 2015 / Allan Babcock

That’s the title of the latest commentary from Ravi Zacharias. I greatly respect him and the perspective he brings as a world-traveling defender and advocate of the Christian faith. I can’t read him in bed at night, though. My mind can’t swim as deep as his. I have to re-read to follow his thoughts and understand his insights. So, if your mental swimming is as limited as mine, don’t give up. Read it again. It’s worth it.

* * * * *

RZIM_Is_Paris_Burning_Ravi_Zacharias_Paris_Attacks_blog

The layers that obscure the truth are burying humanity in large numbers. Yes, Paris was burning again and those flames and the dead bodies may well be a grim foreshadowing of what the future holds. I was in neighboring England the night the massacre scattered across Paris took place, as people going out to enjoy a dinner or concert or a football game were the targets of hate-filled and ruthless killers. The newspapers the next day had similar words: “Carnage”; “massacre”; “assassination”; “murder”; “blood”; “death”; “screams”; “terror,” and so on. Television programming was preempted and viewers were cautioned that some of the scenes of the slaughter were graphic. It was real. A few hours later, names and pictures of the dead were shown. It was like we had heard this before. But it was new and real: the victims’ lives cut short in the peak of their careers. Children who weren’t going to come home. People looking for their loved ones. Marriages suddenly broken by death. A young graduate with life ahead of her. And so on. One doesn’t have to know the individuals to feel helplessness and pain. This is twenty-first century murderous man. War in small increments can be deadlier than large scale war because it doesn’t just desensitize the killers; it desensitizes all of humanity.

Killers who do not represent a country and whose belief is debated ad nauseam as to whether it is a version or a perversion are truly sinister and are the cancerous cells of our time. They are protected by having no roots either in country or belief. The West is being taken down in small portions till one day the lie of the murderers being protected by smooth-talking power brokers with a bodyguard of lies will be seen for the terrifying belief that it is. No contrary view will be allowed then. For now, the layers of distortion cover the graves of the murdered. The whole world has become a courtroom where clever lawyers make truth unattainable. Whether it be 9/11 or the carnage at the Boston Marathon or blown-up planes or Paris, we will not find answers because to ask the question is either to receive a lie from some politicians or many in the media, or to invoke the wrath of hate-filled killers.

So we ask! What is the belief behind all this that kills with such callousness? We do not get any answers. We are told by some that it’s a religion of peace. Others call it a political theory at its core covered with the garb of religion to give it maximum protection as it invokes the laws of blasphemy. What is the answer? We had dare not unpack the truth. In one sense, strangely, one feels almost pity for these murderers. The possessor of hate loses the essence of life much more than the victim does. Living with a heart so deceived breeds a decimating misery within and spreads the venom globally. There must be scores of young men within the belief who do not wish to inflict such pain but who now live with the pall of suspicion over them. Such is the contagion of a poisoned soul.

But the quest for answers still haunts. In one Middle Eastern country, an awful thing happened. Two young Muslims turned atheists were on a program. They argued for the reality that blood had been spilled across the centuries and that there was no denying that from its earliest days to the present, this was the same blood-letting in the name of the belief as originally given and carried out. Then one of them asked the cleric a question that was as pointed as could be. It was a powerful question with an irrefutable fact within the question. The question laid bare a reality that was deemed blasphemous. The next day that man and his family were murdered, just for asking a fact-laden question that was unanswerable without conceding the truth. For that, he and his family paid with their lives.

That’s the depravity of our age. It is death to ask the pointed question because the answer, if true, betrays the real truth. The masquerade is on and it is deadly. We watch hundreds die. We hear speeches full of distortions; we tolerate deceit and even reward it. Some in power and in the public eye whitewash the reality while the blood of the murdered cries out from the ground. Our children and grandchildren will inherit the whirlwind because our media pundits and misguided speech-makers have sown to the wind by trading in lives for their power.

It would be easy to lose heart and become cynical. But No! There is One who sees all things, knows all things, and will ultimately triumph over all things. There is only one message that addresses the truth as the truth. The Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, came to this earth and was also the victim of hate. Lies sent him to the cross. Power overruled reality, as politics and religious demagogues once again made the lie seem noble. But the Lord who sees the beginning from the end amazingly conquered not in spite of the dark mystery of evil, rather, He conquered through it. James Stewart of Scotland, pointing to the cross, said it in the most powerful terms I have read. Commenting on the verse from Psalm 68:18, “He led captivity captive,” he said,

It is a glorious phrase—“He led captivity captive.” The very triumphs of his foes, it means, he used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to subserve his ends not theirs. They nailed him to a tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to his feet. They gave him a cross, not guessing that he would make it a throne. They flung him outside the city gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up the gates of the universe, to let the king come in. They thought to root out his doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy. They thought they had God with his back to the wall, pinned helpless and defeated: they did not know that it was God himself who had tracked them down. He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.

The lie has a shelf life. The truth abides forever. God can even conquer through our perversion.

One more thing. I would be remiss if I left the guilt and darkness out there. That is the seduction of a fake righteousness. We all have to look at our own hearts and see the evil that is within each one of us. Only then can we find the answer from which all other answers flow. Some time ago, I was in Romania. A sculptor had some of his works on display. One was a horrific, fierce-looking, long nail. When you picked it up, as rusty and jagged as the nail was, the head was polished and shiny. And when you looked at that polished head, you saw a reflection of yourself. It is sobering. Very sobering.

You see, the nails that cause hurt and pain and death ultimately point to our own hearts. Only when we as individuals see the evil that is within will we find an answer for the evil that is around us. Maybe, just maybe, someday a carnage will take place that might cause everyone in power to see their own hearts as God sees them and tell us the truth of what these killings are all about. Only then will truth triumph and we find real answers. Until then, the flames will gain ground and not just Paris will burn, but the next story of scorched lives in another city will make us forget this one… or possibly, awaken us to the cost of a lie. More than ever we need the Savior. Lord have mercy!

Ravi Zacharias

Bathroom-Fall Theology

November 16, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I fell last night. Good thing I fell on my head.! I was standing by the bathroom sink, my walker at my right side. I turned, somehow lost my balance and fell, my right temple hitting the ceramic tile floor, my legs twisting in my walker, and my glasses breaking. (If my blog seems dark, it’s my prescription sun glasses!)

I’m okay. Not as well-dressed as this guy, but okay. Just a minor bump and a darker-than-usual day. But it got me thinking. Questions.

How do persecuted Christians handle suffering? Even though my hard head meeting hard floor hurt (the fall didn’t hurt, just the sudden stop), some of my brothers and sisters suffer far worse. When a man’s wife is raped, when his daughter is kidnapped, when he cries to God and gets silence, how does he maintain faith?

The only answer can be 2 Corinthians 12:9 . . .

“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

It’s not the strength of the man’s faith; it’s the gracious power of the Lord. It’s a gift of faith from the Holy Spirit that surpasses our “normal level” of believing (1 Corinthians 12:9a). It’s the shield of faith which smothers all the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16a).

The 5 Types of Power Revisited | The Fast Track

He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b). In other words, when our suffering is great and our “normal” faith seems small, our Lord is with us throwing the punch of his power into us, so we can keep trusting even when the agony is beyond reason.

Is all our suffering ordered by our Father? Somehow it’s easier to believe that persecution-suffering—or even judgment-suffering—are ordered by God than suffering from falling in the bathroom. After all, we’ve got biblical warnings of persecution and judgment.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (John 15:20).

... continue to face persecution from their Communist slavemasters

The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies.
He will totally destroy them,
he will give them over to slaughter (Isaiah 34:2).

PostHaste - Wrath of God - YouTube

But we have no biblical warnings of bathroom falls or flat tires or broken air conditioning. Does our Father order the “big stuff” but the “little stuff” just happens? I remember Jesus’ encouraging words . . .

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29,30).

Many versions, such as the NIV, translate “apart from your Father’s will.” But the ESV (above) correctly omits “will” because it’s not in the original Greek. So what exactly did Jesus mean? That our Father wills even the fall of an insignificant sparrow or that our Father knows about the fall of each insignificant sparrow? Does Matthew 10:30 mean our Father determines the number of our hairs or knows their number?

Charles Spurgeon beautifully answered this way . . .

“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.”

So did our Father order my fall? Did he command that only my glasses break and not my arm? Or was my fall devil-inspired or merely the natural result of my disability?

Such questions lead to others: Does God really work for the good in all things? If so, how in the world does my bathroom fall conform me more to the likeness of God’s Son?

And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;
those he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).

Honestly, I find it hard to believe that our Father will use my fall for good, especially to conform me more to Christ’s likeness. Yet maybe one good thing is this: someone who reads my blog may be encouraged in their suffering.

When it comes down to it, in a situation like this, while I don’t fully understand, I’m like Peter. To many of his followers, Jesus made some hard statements. John recorded what happened next . . .

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:66-68).

I choose to believe that persecuted Christians endure suffering by God’s grace and gift of faith. I choose to believe that all suffering is ordered by our Father (even though I don’t understand). But my bottom line, when I’m hurting and confused and tempted is Peter’s statement:

“Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:66-68).

No one else–no place else–to go with my hurt and pain and ignorance, but to Jesus. Because he alone speaks the words that lead to eternal life.

Jesus Open Arms photo: Jesus' Arms JesusArms.jpg

Paris Prayer

November 14, 2015 / Allan Babcock

News from Paris last night (http://www.nytimes.com/) seemed surreal. Were terrorist attacks really erupting throughout one of the world’s major cities? Were over 100 people really slaughtered as they went about a typical Friday night? It didn’t seem as frightening as “our” 9/11 (partly because it didn’t happen here); but it seemed more threatening. Maybe because after 14 years we assumed we had better control of our own safety. Maybe because it darkly warned, “This can happen anywhere, anytime.”

Politicians urge us, “Don’t be afraid. Live life as normal.” I’m not trying to stir up fear, but we should at least be aware of how tenuous life has become. Terrorists are rocking the world. Yes, the Lord is sovereign. He is in control. But that doesn’t mean that we casually dismiss evil, or that we watch a news report as if it were a movie.

One thing we can do is pray. How should we pray in the face of the Paris attack? In his blog today, Denny Burk suggests Psalm 10:12-18. Good idea. I’ll include verse 1, because in such times the Lord seems absent. Or it seems he really isn’t involved in these “real life” tragedies.

Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? . . .

Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.

The LORD is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

The above is taken from the ESV. Or you may wish to pray from the TEV below . . .

Why are you so far away, O LORD?
Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble? . . .

O LORD, punish those wicked men!
Remember those who are suffering!
How can a wicked man despise God
and say to himself, “He will not punish me”?

But you do see; you take notice
of trouble and suffering
and are always ready to help.
The helpless man commits himself to you;
you have always helped the needy.
Break the power of wicked and evil men;
punish them for the wrong they have done
until they do it no more.

The LORD is king forever and ever.
Those who worship other gods will vanish from his land.
You will listen, O LORD, to the prayers of the lowly;
you will give them courage.
You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans;
you will judge in their favor,
so that mortal man may cause terror no more.

When I pray “Bible prayers”, I often find their words spur additional thoughts. So, rather than sticking strictly to the text (which is fine), I often pray what it has jogged in my mind. You may find it so too. Either way, let’s pray.

God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil…
~ E.M.Bounds

Atlanta Persecution

November 11, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I publish this to keep us informed of what’s happening in the land of religious freedom. This article from The Wall Street Journal, speaks for itself.

Christian Belief Cost Kelvin Cochran His Job

Atlanta says it terminated its fire chief because he published a book without permission. The real reason is because of what’s in it.

Jason L. Riley

Nov. 10, 2015 7:14 p.m. ET

752 COMMENTS

Kelvin Cochran, right, with his attorney, David Cortman, at a Feb. 18 news conference in Atlanta. Photo: Ben Gray/Associated Press

Kelvin Cochran has led a remarkable life by any standard. He was born into a poor family in Shreveport, La., in 1960 that became even poorer after his father walked out and left his mother to raise six children alone. “After he left, we couldn’t afford to live in the projects anymore,” he once told an interviewer.

Mr. Cochran aspired to be a firefighter from age 5, and he eventually was appointed Shreveport’s first black fire chief in 1999. In 2008 he became the fire chief of Atlanta. And In 2009 President Obama appointed him U.S. fire administrator, the top position in the profession.

At the urging of Democratic Mayor Kasim Reed, Mr. Cochran returned to his post in Atlanta in 2010 and continued to impress. In 2012, after more than 30 years of service, he was given a Fire Chief of the Year Award by Fire Chief magazine. In a related press release, the mayor’s office said that “under Chief Cochran’s leadership, the department has seen dramatic improvements in response times and staffing.” Mr. Reed added: “Chief Cochran’s pioneering efforts to improve performance and service within the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department have won him much-deserved national recognition.”

But a year ago, Mr. Cochran was suspended for 30 days without pay, pending an investigation into his behavior. On Jan. 6, at the end of the suspension, Mr. Reed sacked him. Mr. Cochran’s fireable offense, according to the city, was publishing a book in violation of the city’s ethics code and without permission from the mayor. The reality, according to a lawsuit filed in response to the firing, is that Mr. Cochran no longer has his $172,000-a-year job because of what’s in the book. The suit accuses the city of firing Mr. Cochran for his religious beliefs.

It turns out that when he’s not fighting fires, Mr. Cochran spends a lot of time helping black men turn their lives around and stay out of trouble. He does this under the auspices of Atlanta’s Elizabeth Baptist Church, where he is a deacon and leads a men’s bible study.

Mr. Cochran self-published a book in 2013, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” The book, written on his own time, is a compilation of lesson plans for his bible classes and explains how the teachings of Christ can help men fulfill their purpose as responsible husbands and fathers. What earned the ire of Atlanta officials is that the 162-page tome includes a few passages criticizing homosexual conduct as “perversion.”

In response to the lawsuit, the city has maintained that Mr. Cochran was terminated for violating protocol, not for his religious views—as if he would have been fired for publishing a cookbook. But comments from the mayor and other city officials at the time of the suspension suggest that the book’s content is what drove the decision.

“I want to be clear that the material in Chief Cochran’s book is not representative of my personal beliefs, and is inconsistent with the administration’s work to make Atlanta a more welcoming city for all of her citizens—regardless of their sexual orientation, gender, race and religious beliefs,” said Mr. Reed. Alex Wan, a member of the City Council who is openly gay, said “I respect each individual’s right to have their own thoughts, beliefs and opinions, but when you’re a city employee, and those thoughts, beliefs and opinions are different from the city’s, you have to check them at the door.”

So the mayor fired someone who disagreed with him in the name of inclusivity and tolerance. And Mr. Wan believes that government employees are entitled to their own views but not entitled to share them with anyone. If this is true, the Constitution’s protections of free speech and freedom of religion are meaningless in practice.

David Cortman of Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group representing Mr. Cochran, says the city is now using protocol arguments to cover its tracks after wrongly terminating someone for holding and expressing religious views that city officials didn’t like. There is no official requirement to notify the mayor before you write a book, Mr. Cortman told me, and Mr. Cochran sought and received permission from the city’s ethics department to pursue the book project.

“The ethics rule concerns moonlighting, other employment or outside work,” said Mr. Cortman. “It doesn’t apply to writing a book, religious or otherwise, on your own time at home. And if they had such a rule in place it would be unconstitutional. You don’t need the government’s permission to do that.”

Despite the left’s efforts to paint Mr. Cochran as some kind of hateful bigot, the city’s own investigation of the former fire chief’s work history found no complaints of discrimination.

Many Americans—and polls show their numbers growing—don’t agree with Mr. Cochran about sexual behavior or same-sex marriage, but all Americans have a stake in religious freedom. Consider: Would it be OK for a mayor who holds traditional views on marriage to fire an employee who wrote a book that expressed support for same-sex marriage?

“Our nation was founded on the principle that everyone should be free to not just believe what they want, but to live their lives according to those beliefs,” said Mr. Cochran in a statement last month following a court hearing. “I’m here today not just for myself, but for every religious person in America who does not want to live in fear of facing termination for expressing their faith.”

Mr. Riley, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and Journal contributor, is the author of “Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed” (Encounter Books, 2014).

Birthday Love Letter Lesson

November 11, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Lois and I celebrated my 72nd birthday Monday. The number almost takes my breath away. (So does walking up stairs.) My body feels 72, but not my mind. (You may diagnose me differently if you regularly read what I write.) Anyway, we enjoyed a wonderful day together—brunch and dinner out (not at the same time), Lois’ card and letter to me (I cried) and the movie “The Notebook” (more tears). Unusual all-day rain kept us from the beach (original plan), but it was just as well. We enjoyed being quiet together appreciating having each other. I’m more in love than ever.

At the risk of sounding egotistical, here’s one line from Lois’ letter: “Your ability to persevere and continue to show Christ’s love is witness to the power of the faith you have taught—and lived—all your life.” (Ah, yes. Love is blind. Is that in Leviticus?) I shared her sentence only because I’ve struggled recently with the Lord’s answer to Paul’s pleading prayers to be freed from his “thorn in the flesh” . . .

“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9a).

I read those words and wonder where the Lord’s gracious perfected power is in me. I limp in pain leaning on my walker. My faith fights feebly against my disability. Some days I’m angry or depressed. God’s promises seem to mock me. No divine power-surge in this old body! No spectacular signs of God’s sufficient grace in me! Not only do I not boast of my weaknesses, I hate people seeing me this way. No contented sighs coming from this mouth. Where’s the Lord’s power?

Then Monday I read Lois’ letter. “Your ability to persevere and continue to show Christ’s love is witness to the power of the faith you have taught—and lived—all your life” (and other such statements). There it is! There’s the Lord’s perfected power in my weakness!

Lois sees me persevering and continuing to show Christ’s love. She sees me as a witness to faith’s power. (She sees many other virtues I won’t point out for fear of sounding like Donald Trump.) These virtues that she sees are evidence of the Lord’s perfected power of grace in me.

I realize again that his power doesn’t displace weakness; it shines in weakness. It doesn’t turn a disabled body into Superman; it displays Jesus in the attitude and words and ways of the disabled. His power doesn’t rescue me from the Calvary road; it inwardly renews me on the Calvary road. (And one day, just as God’s power exploded in the resurrection of the crucified Christ, it will explode in this rotted, worm-eaten body and resurrect it imperishable and immortal.)

This is how, of course, God’s power was perfected in Paul. It’s impossible to read 2 Corinthians, other Pauline letters and the book of Acts and not know that Paul suffered for Christ. Just read 2 Corinthians 6:4-10; 11:23-29. Only in 2 Corinthians 12:9 did Paul pray to be spared suffering. And when he didn’t receive what he wanted, he wrote:

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content
with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9b,10).

That’s the Lord’s perfected power in a mere sinful mortal who trusts his saving grace!

I’m not saying the Lord never delivers. Read Hebrews 11 and realize there are times he does and times he doesn’t. But when he doesn’t, his power isn’t absent—just demonstrated in different ways.

Listen! There’s no need to run to “healing evangelists” or to send money for an “anointed prayer cloth.” Our Father never turns a deaf ear to his children. Our Lord never ignores his redeemed. He just asserts his gracious power in different ways according to his sovereign and good will.

That means I am as much a miracle as I would be if the Lord physically healed me!

No Resurrection Marriage?!

November 8, 2015 / Allan Babcock

See that pretty lady next to the old guy? That’s Lois, my wife of 53 years. Besides being my best friend, mother to our three children, and grandmother to our eight grandchildren, she was my partner in pastoral ministry for 44 years. I can’t imagine life without her as my wife. That’s why this is my least favorite Scripture text.

“When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Jesus in Mark 12:25). That takes some shine off the new creation for me. If it weren’t for ” . . . they will be like angels” I’d interpret Jesus to mean no weddings. Alas! I can’t twist the text!

Okay, I feel a little better with that off my chest. (Transparency, right?) So let’s get to the full text . . .

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising– have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” (Mark 12:18-27).

It’s Tuesday after Jesus’ triumphal entry Sunday into Jerusalem. Wave after wave of Jewish authorities verbally attack him in the temple courtyard hoping he’ll incriminate himself. They want him silenced; they want him dead.

Now it’s the Sadducees. Little is known about this short-lived Jewish sect, but this much is—they didn’t believe in the end-time resurrection of the dead.

Nor do 54% of Americans (+10% undecided) according to a 2006 poll cited by Dr. Albert Mohler in one of his blogs. Yet, according to a “USA Today” poll in 2009, 74% of Americans believe in heaven. Americans are confused because they think heaven is Christians’ final destination when the new creation is.

The Sadducees pose an extreme situation (7 husbands?); yet this remarriage practice was biblical. If a husband died leaving no heirs, one of the surviving brothers was to marry his widow to provide an heir so the brother’s name and inheritance would be kept in the family (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). Therefore, even though the motive is dishonest, the question isn’t: “At the resurrection, whose wife shall she be?”

Jesus (not so “meek and mild”) replies: “How wrong you are! And do you know why? It is because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power” (TEV). Jesus says the Sadducees are wrong for three reasons.

First, they don’t know the Scriptures. I’m afraid the same may be true of people today (including Christians). And when we don’t know the Scriptures we’re wrong or ignorant about some of life’s most important realities (like knowing whether or not there will be an end-time bodily resurrection). Listen, it doesn’t take a post-graduate degree to know the Scriptures! All we need is to prayerfully, regularly and thoughtfully read them. Think how deep our knowing of God if every year of our life—or even every two years—we read through the Bible!

Second, they don’t know God’s power. Admittedly, bodily resurrection of everyone who’s ever lived (some to eternal judgment, some to eternal life) seems a bit “out there”. I can’t imagine the scene! But that’s because I have limited knowledge of God’s unlimited power. God’s power in my life is quiet and barely discernible. I believe in it because I see its evidence in creation and in changed lives. Yet it doesn’t explode like a computer-generated movie scene, so many choose ignorance of it. I choose to believe it, because I repeatedly read of it in Scripture and I figure that, since God created my body, surely he can resurrect it.

Third, they don’t know God. Remember how God introduced himself to Moses at the burning bush. “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (12:26). Jesus draws the implication: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong” (12:27).

Significantly, God didn’t say, “I was the God of Abraham . . . ” but “I am the God of Abraham . . . “. And Jesus said, “He is the God . . . of the living.” In every generation, God is “I am.” Therefore, his people are never dead, but always living. And in his time dead bodies will be raised, as Paul later wrote, ” . . . imperishable, in glory. in power, a spiritual body . . . ” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

“To him who by means of his power working in us
is able to do so much more than we can ever ask or think of
(even making Lois’ and my relationship something better than husband and wife);
to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
for all time, forever and ever (Ephesians 3:20-21, TEV)!

Carson Vs. Media

November 7, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I was shaken yesterday when I first read of Dr. Ben Carson’s “fabrications”. I read further reports and became confused. What was said when? Did the media get it right? Did Carson make misstatements?

All this concerned me because I believe Carson’s honesty and integrity are key to his campaign. And while I’d love to see debates between Carly and Hillary, I’ll be voting for Carson. (I still can’t believe people are taking Trump seriously. If he or Hillary become president I may move to Sweden.)

Gradually, as I continued to read and hear reports, I came to the conclusion that this was another case of media bias on the attack. Take, for a small example, the top line of the video: “Ben Carson Goes Off On Reporters . . . ” Goes off? (Trump goes off every time he opens his mouth!) Please note: “goes off” is subtle media commentary.

By the way, the Democrat party has a shoo-in for the presidential nomination being investigated by the FBI. Where is the media feeding frenzy over that?

America is in trouble. When the media is so blatantly biased we don’t know who or what we can we believe and often are subconsciously swayed to believe a lie. The media are as liable for division in this country as people who always cry “racist”.

Thank God we belong to a kingdom not of this world! Yet we’re called to live in the kingdoms of this world and to influence them for righteousness and justice. The video above is my tiny attempt to do that in this case.

Law: Nude Male in Girls’ Locker Room

November 4, 2015 / Allan Babcock

This is the world in which our children are growing up. It should shock us (if anything can anymore) and move us to vote for whomever the Republican party nominates. Hopefully then all this socialistic ideology will be destroyed with a presidential or congressional stroke of the pen.

The blog below is from “National Review” staff writer David French. Mr. French is an attorney, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and author or co-author of several bestselling books. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and a former lecturer at Cornell Law School. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. David is a major in the United States Army Reserve (IRR). In 2007, he deployed to Iraq, serving in Diyala Province as Squadron Judge Advocate for the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. He lives and works in Columbia, Tennessee, with his wife, Nancy (who is also a New York Times bestselling author), and three children. This post appear in the blog “The Corner” on November 3rd.

Feds: Schools Must Grant Mentally Disturbed Boy Unfettered Access to Girls’ Locker Room

The Department of Education has lost its mind:

Federal education authorities, staking out their firmest position yet on an increasingly contentious issue, found Monday that an Illinois school district violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions.

Let me get this straight—if the school district allowed someone to post pictures of a nude man in a classroom, that would be blocked as sexual harassment, but if a nude boy changes next to women in a locker room, that’s equality?

Apparently so:

In a letter sent Monday, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education told the Palatine district that requiring a transgender student to use private changing and showering facilities was a violation of that student’s rights under Title IX, a federal laws that bans sex discrimination. The student, who identifies as female but was born male, should be given unfetter access to girls’ facilities, the letter said.

And you have to love the anti-science sanctimony from the ACLU:

“What our client wants is not hard to understand: She wants to be accepted for who she is and to be treated with dignity and respect—like any other student,” said John Knight, the director of the L.G.B.T. and H.I.V. Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, who is representing the student. “The district’s insistence on separating my client from other students if blatant discrimination. Rather than approaching this issue with sensitivity and dignity, the district has attempted to justify its conduct by challenging my client’s identity as a girl.”

“Identity as a girl?” This poor kid doesn’t have a chance. He’s surrounded by people who are indulging his mental challenges, lying to him—as social-justice warriors do—for the sake of a sexual revolutionary ideology so radical that it now even trumps the rights of girls to be free from involuntary exposure to male nudity at school. This won’t end well for the boy, for the girls in the school, or for the use of the law as a rational instrument of justice.

Nor should it end well for the Department of Education. Last year, the DOE issued a memorandum that purported to amend Title IX to add protections for “transgender” students. The use of memoranda to change the law is a favorite tactic of the Obama administration, and it also happens to violate the Administrative Procedure Act. Colleges—in the grips of the radical Left—have been too cowardly to challenge the administration’s legal abuses, but I suspect that public-school districts will be a bit more eager to go to court. They have less to lose and more to gain. Would you want to be the school-board member in a conservative district who meekly acquiesced to Obama-administration lawlessness?

But litigation shouldn’t even be necessary. If the GOP wins the presidency in 2016, a conservative secretary of education can simply revoke all the Obama administration’s lawless Title IX directives, eliminating in one stroke the entire educational system’s legal pretext for its sexual hysteria. New rule-making can narrow Title IX to its intended scope, and schools and colleges will find that they operate in a radically changed landscape. A smart GOP candidate would do well to call out the Obama administration’s radicalization in the primary and promise to rescue schools from the ideologues. We’ll see who makes the first move.

( I APOLOGIZE FOR THE BUNGLED WAY MR. FRENCH’S BLOG APPEARS. MUST HAVE BEEN PRINTED IN WASHINGTON!)

Taxes and the Two Kingdoms

November 4, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Is it lawful to pay taxes? Of course; it’s unlawful not to. Jesus was once asked that question; but he answered differently. Here’s Mark’s report of how it all started . . .

And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk . And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not. Should we pay them, or should we not?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied (Mark 12:13-16).

Commentary on the text. “They” who did the sending were members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish
Supreme Court. “Pharisees” were a sect within Judaism that had begun with deep devotion to God and his law, but over time became self-righteous legalists. To them, oral tradition about God’s laws was as weighty as the laws themselves. “Herodians” were primarily a political group in Judaism that supported the rule of the Herods.

Since 3:6 the Pharisees and Herodians had been plotting how to kill Jesus. Here they’re looking to maneuver Jesus into an anti-law answer that will give them grounds to arrest him. (Arrest is possible, because Israel was a theocracy where “church” and state were one.

First, they flattered Jesus, hoping to establish false-friendly feelings. Jesus was no fool. Neither was the gathering crowd in the temple courtyard. Mostly saw through their flimsy approach.

Second came the “gotcha” question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar” was a “hot button” issue. Taxes were no small thing. Since Rome “annexed” Israel, Jews were forced to pay a 10% grain tax, a 20% wine and fruit tax, a 1% of-all-other-earnings tax and a one-denarius poll tax. That was especially egregious because Caesar’s image glared from one side of the coin and his titles “High Priest” and “Son of God” emblazoned the other.

They smugly assumed Jesus was snared. Answer “Pay taxes” and a riot would erupt. “Don’t pay taxes” and the Court would be sure the Romans heard the treason Jesus was spreading.

But Jesus knew—and let them know he did. When he asked for a denaius, a few sweat drops must have formed in their foreheads. And when he asked, “Whose portrait is this?” and they answered, “Caesar’s”, their stomachs must have shuddered.

Jesus’ Answer. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him (12:17). The denarius was Caesar’s; his image marked it as his property. However unjust the tax, his government had a right to it.

The crowd was amazed; Jesus was a verbal Houdini. More stunning than his escape tactics was Jesus’ affirmation of two kingdoms (governments) in the world. The government of man (Caesar’s) and the government of God. Jesus’ well-versed-in-Scripture audiences would have recognized that. And each government had its due. That leads us to a few final questions . . .

What Is God’s? The Roman coin obviously belonged to Caesar. What belonged to God? His audience would have thought sacrifices, obedience, worship, tithes, thanks, praise and worship. Pay Caesar his taxes, but give God your devotion!

Now let us be the audience. What is God’s? As followers of Jesus, what is God’s that we’re to give him?
We could correctly repeat the Jews’ answers. But that might be like thoughtlessly mimicking the answer we know the Teacher wants to hear.

How casually we repeat familiar Christian terms! How unmindfully we mouth weighty biblical words! We’re losing the ability to think deeply, so our lips speak religious jargon. We don’t even want to think deeply about biblical things. We want sermons that give us simple steps and lessons that quickly distill doctrines debated for centuries in the church.

Maybe Jesus knew his audience would immediately and rightly identify what was God’s to be given him. Or maybe he wanted them—and us—to think deeply and definitely about what is God’s to be given him. Here are four Scriptures to guide us.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters (Psalm 24:1,2).

The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19).

But now, this is what the LORD says– he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine (Isaiah 43:1).

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19b,20).

One Final Thought. The last two Scriptures above and Jesus’ question, “Whose image is on the coin?”, lead us to this: Whose image is on us?

foto of denarius - Hand holding a single coin - JPG