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

    Evangelism and Missions in Proverbs

    Posted on 8 November 2024 by Seth Meyers

    Proverbs is full of earthly, practical wisdom. Unbelievers could gain a great deal by simply following the insight into words, money, child-raising, and politics. In one sense, Proverbs is a “how-to” manual for a good life. This one collection of sayings and speeches could create a prosperous culture among the poor of the world.

    But the proverbs also fit perfectly and sometime seem to prophesy the doctrines and practices of the New Covenant, these last days, the times of the Church which is His body.

    If we remember our Lord’s Command to go into all the world and preach the gospel, we can then look back and see amazing parallels in Proverbs. Let us use these dozen or more passages to make us evangelists and missionaries.

    3:27-28 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

    A wise man will pay what is owed without delay. Paul said that he evangelized because of the debt he owed to sinners (Rom. 1:14). If Christ died to reconcile the world to God (2 Cor. 5:19), then it is due to those people who make up the world that they know this. If it is in my power to give them what is their due, then I must not tell them to wait.

    10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

    One way it will be seen that I am a righteous man is when my lips feed others with words that will satisfy them for eternity. Fools are objects of our pity since they die in their ignorance.

    Notice also, that a good man feeds not just one or two, but he is very generous with the soul-satisfying, life-changing, eternity-touching words. He makes it his goal to feed everyone possible.

    11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

    From this verse comes the phrase soulwinner which is the title of one of Spurgeon’s books. Godly men are soulwinning men. They prioritize souls above bodies. They think much of eternity. They are preachers before culture shifters. They aim for the next life more than this life.

    15:2 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

    If we have knowledge of God and His Son, and if we are wise, then our tongues will use that knowledge. We will speak about this knowledge which is a species of evangelism.

    15:4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

    A tree of life bears fruit that brings life. My tongue can bring life-giving fruit only when it tends to lead others to salvation.

    15:23 A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!

    When all is done in eternity’s light, we will see that the best words were those which brought us to that place. No other words were so well-spoken, none so fitting, none so necessary. Nothing was so helpful as those words which had become the vehicle to deliver us to Heaven’s housing.

    24:11-12 If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; 12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

    What reason could we offer for not delivering men from eternal death? All attempts at explaining why we were unable to speak to sinners will be seen at the judgment to be excuses. May we not then see the frost that was our half-hearted zeal? Though we fancy to think we have worked hard, may we not then think that we had only been playing? He will know and see right into the real stat of things. And He will pay back all who devoted themselves to saving men from the second death.

    25:15 By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.

    Gentle, but persistent words will do what force and violence could not do in persuading men. Love is the winning argument that turns a hard heart.

    25:25 As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

    Recently in a church prayer meeting a Tsonga woman thanked God that He had sent the missionaries to teach her the gospel. When God draws a sinner, that man finally feels a great thirst and also a great refreshment in the message that now reaches his soul.

    29:7 The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

    “Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.” Paul the Apostle

    Godly men remember the crowds of men, nations, and languages who have no access or little access or blocked access or intermittent access to those truths that can alone buttress them against an utter collapse into the flame. The world is full of the spiritually poor who lack access to the gospel and do not even see their deadly poverty.

    29:8 Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

    God’s wrath is on the world. But a good man will stand in the gap and make up the hedge (Ezek. 22:30). He will see that the great task is to turn away the just anger of the Judge of the Earth by preaching Christ to produce repentance and humility.

    29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

    Righteous men are soulhunters. They try to bring the highest, most enduring good to the souls of men. This is why they are righteous. Their heroism is to seek for the highest good to the most valuable part of mankind. The best of men are the most fervent in seeking for eternal happiness to never-dying souls. Evil men kill others bodies and care nothing for their souls. Good men not only refrain from killing bodies, but they are intensely hunting for the souls that are willing to be saved.

    29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

    Vision means a revelation from God. Perish means to have a miserable earthly life and fall into eternal ruin. Without the Bible translated, distributed, read, and understood, men can never be happy in this life, and the next life will be only far worse.

    31:8-9 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

    The greatest poverty is lack of access to saving truth. The greatest pity ought to fall on those who have no Bible, or next those who having a Bible have no Christian churches in their culture, or next those who having a Bible and Christian churches have never been introduced to these saving means.

    1:20-33

    This powerful speech in the first chapter is full of evangelism and will prepare a believer to be a missionary.

    20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

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    Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Consumed With God

    Posted on 5 November 2024 by Seth Meyers
    • 18 June 1944—in the midst of WWII.
    • Martyn Lloyd-Jones is 44 years old and the pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London.
    • Germany has been bombing London when suddenly all the members of the congregation hear the familiar whistle of another bomb falling towards the city.
    • ML-J is at this moment leading the church in prayer.
    • He continues to pray until the whistle is too loud for anyone to hear his words.
    • Suddenly, the bomb hits the church and damages the building at 11:20 am.
    • Plaster falls and hits ML-J’s head.
    • As soon as the noise is gone, he picked up with his prayer right where he had left off.
    • He only paused for a few seconds.
    • This is the life of a man so drawn to God, that nothing else mattered on earth.
    • Many godly men like this are kept hidden in relative obscurity, but here is a man that God specially brought to popularity–a man full of God.
    • When J. I. Packer heard him preach he said, “I have never heard another preacher with so much of God about him. … The thrust of Lloyd-Jones’ sermons is always to show man small and God great.” 317

    Thesis

    • Revival most commonly comes among those who are God-centered like Martyn Lloyd Jones.

    The life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones

      1. 1899 – December 20, Born to Henry and Magdalen Lloyd-Jones in Wales.
      2. 1910 – January 20 – The Lloyd-Jones home burns to the ground with the family barely escaping. Martyn is saved by being thrown from an upstairs window into a blanket below.
      3. 1911 – – Martyn attends a boarding school in Tregaron Wales for the next three years. He disliked his time at the school and would forever be a vocal antagonist to this British custom. He would later say of his boarding school experience, “I believe that I shall never totally recover from this until I reach that country where we shall never part anymore.” (219)
      4. 1913 – Martyn decides to become a doctor.
      5. 1914— The family business fails and Henry claims bankruptcy.
      6. 1914— Martyn considers dropping out of school to become a bank clerk, but his family sends him to school which sets him up for his medical career.
      7. 1916 – At 16, Martyn is accepted at the very prestigious St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
      8. 1921– Martyn begins working for Sir Thomas Horder, a doctor to the royal family.
      9. 1922 – His father Henry dies. His brother had died a few years earlier.
      10. 1923 – He receives his MD degree for his research in subacute bacterial endocarditis. His research is later published.
      11. 1924 – Martyn Lloyd-Jones is converted.
      12. 1925– Martyn begins to yield to God’s call to preach.
      13. 1926 – October 10, – Martyn preaches his first sermon
      14. 1926— November 28, – Martyn candidates and is accepted at Aberavon, Wales.
      15. 1927 – January 8, – Martyn marries Bethan Phillips. Wedding gifts: Books by John Owen and Richard Baxter.
      16. 1927— October 26 – His daughter Elizabeth is born.
      17. 1929 – Martyn discovers the writings of Jonathan Edwards in a second hand book store as he waits for a train in Cardiff Wales. He would later say “They helped me more than anything else.” (125) Lloyd-Jones would come to evaluate Edwards as the greatest theological mind of all times. (MLJ, The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors, p. 355)
      18. 1929— Reads Luke Tyerman’s The Life and Times of George Whitefield. “When I read of Whitefield I feel that I have never really preached in my life.”
      19. 1931 – Harry Wood, a recent convert, expressed his desire to go straight home to Heaven after praying. He later dies at church after opening the church’s prayer meeting. Revival begins with 128 converts that year.
      20. 1932 – He discovers the writings of B.B. Warfield. This influences him more towards doctrinal and Pauline preaching. He would later confess (1949) that he became too academic because of Warfield’s influence.
      21. 1935 – He preaches on the radio and later to 7,000 people in Wales.
      22. 1935— December, – G. Campbell Morgan hears Lloyd-Jones preach for the first time.
      23. 1936 – April, – Lloyd-Jones preaches at Spurgeon’s Tabernacle and is contacted about becoming their Pastor.
      24. 1938—After 10 years of pastoring at Aberavon, he seeks another church feeling that his work was done there.
      25. 1938–September, –Martyn Lloyd-Jones accepts G. Campbell Morgan’s proposal to preach for six months at Westminster Chapel
      26. 1939 – April 23, – Martyn Lloyd-Jones accepts the call of Westminster Chapel to share pastoral duties with G. Campbell Morgan
      27. 1939— Sept 3, WWII begins the day before he becomes the Co-pastor at Westminster.
      28. 1939— His first book of sermons is published, Why does God allow War? Eventually, 95 different books will be published, all his sermons.
      29. 1940 – Attendance drops significantly due to widespread evacuations. His salary becomes very small.
      30. 1941— Begins a ministers’ Fraternal at Westminster Chapel.
      31. 1941— Establishes a church prayer meeting at Westminster Chapel
      32. 1943 – Lloyd-Jones officially becomes the pastor of Westminster.
      33. 1943— October3, – Lloyd-Jones establishes the pattern of preaching a sermon of edification for believers in the morning and an evangelistic sermon in the evening.
      34. 1943–On this Sunday he began his very first expositional series on the book of 1 Peter.
      35. 1944 – June 18, 1944 – Lloyd-Jones Prays though a V1 attack that damages Westminster chapel. Plaster falls from the ceiling on his head but he continues his pastoral prayer.
      36. 1945 – January 15, – Lloyd-Jones opens the Evangelical library.
      37. 1945— October, – Becomes a council member of the China Inland Mission.
      38. 1946— September – December, – Revival with many conversions.
      39. 1949 – Summer, – Lloyd-Jones suffers from a serious bout of depression.
      40. 1949— December, – Lloyd- Jones begins the Puritan Conference with the aid of J.I. Packer.
      41. 1953 – March – Attacked in the British Weekly for his ICF address “Maintaining the evangelical faith today”.
      42. 1954– Begins his series of sermons on Spiritual Depression. This would become “the doctor’s” most popular topical messages.
      43. 1954— March, – Lloyd-Jones is the only well-known minister who does not support the Billy Graham crusade in London.
      44. 1957 – The Banner of Truth Trust is founded.
      45. 1958–August – Preaches extensively in South Africa
      46. 1959 – January 11, – Begins a series of 26 messages on revival to commemorate the revival of 1859.
      47. 1965– Gets his first home.
      48. 1966 –October 18, 1966 – Gives his “Evangelical Unity” appeal at the Evangelical Alliance. He calls for separation from compromised denominations. John Stott follows with a rebuttal.
      49. 1968 – February 25, – Preaches his last Sunday sermon as Pastor.
      50. 1968–April 14, – Begins his historic addresses on “Preaching and Preachers” at Westminster Seminary.
      51. 1970 – May- ends the Puritan Conference due to the position of Packer and others on issues of doctrine and separation.
      52. 1970— R.T. Kendall becomes the Pastor at Westminster Chapel
      53. 1981 – February – Lloyd-Jones scribbles a note to his family, “Don’t pray for healing. Don’t try to hold me back from the glory.”
      54. 1981— March 1, – Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones dies on Sunday.

      Lessons from his life

        1. We must constantly preach the bad news before we can do any spiritual good.
          1. From early on in his ministry he preached to edify believers on Sunday morning and to evangelize on Sunday evenings.
          2. When asked when he was going to have a crusade, he said, “I have one every week.”
          3. “The great difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is that the former speaks with humility and meekness.” 96
          4. “The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convict of sin and to humble men in the presence of God.” 129
          5. “It is made perfectly clear in the pages of the NT that no man can be saved until, at some time or other, he has felt desperate about himself.” 130
          6. “The staple of Paul’s preaching was God and judgment.” 316
          7. His sermons commonly emphasized sin and humility.
          8. Men felt small when they heard him preach, but they weren’t bothered because they also felt that God was very big.

        2. Absolutely everything in the Bible is true.
          1. Because the Bible is inerrant, we must study it thoroughly.
          2. He loved true doctrine and held firmly to Reformed theology.
          3. Sometimes in his preaching he would make distinctions based on the whether a word was singular or plural.
          4. He wanted to separate from those in the churches who tried to diminish parts of the Scripture.
          5. Because he believed in inerrancy, his sermons were logical, rational, and tightly reasoned.
          6. When I heard one of his last sermons, his medical training came through several times, as he looked for “the cause before the cure.”
          7. For example: “Evolution is the biggest hoax in the world in the past 100 years.” 338

        3. God is most honored and His people are most helped by expositional preaching.
          1. He preached constantly. Often in the week, he would be speaking on Tuesday through Friday at different churches. In his first year of being a pastor—and for almost all of the next 50—he preached in 54 different churches. 116
          2. Later in life, he would preach verse by verse through books of the Bible.
          3. 2 ½ years on Sermon on the Mount
          4. 8 years on Ephesians
          5. 13 years on Romans
          6. He placed very little emphasis on programs in the church, preferring all the children above 3 years old to sit in the service.
          7. When he found a stage at his first church for practicing acting during the week, he said, “You can heat the church with it.” 88
          8. Once he was asked to preach on television, and he was told to stop when the light came on. But he refused to obey since he didn’t want to quench the Spirit.
          9. At 80 years old he was still preaching to large crowds.
          10. He said preaching is “logic on fire.”
          11. He believed that preaching must address the mind first.
          12. But the preacher must not be satisfied until the hearer has truly experienced awe and reverence before God.

        4. Prayer is as vital to the Christian as blood is to the body.
          1. The Sunday morning prayers were about 10 minutes long.
          2. He took time to prepare himself for the prayer and said that there was “nothing more important than to learn how to get oneself into that frame and condition in which one can pray.” Preaching and Preachers, 170.
          3. “When a man is speaking to God, he is at his very acme. It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man’s true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life. Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.” Sermon on the Mount, vol. 2, 46.
          4. He warned that it is far easier to preach than to pray well.
          5. On one Sunday morning when he was in London a man wanted to kill himself by jumping into the Thames. He suddenly went to the Chapel where he was converted hearing ML-J’s pulpit prayer. 305
          6. In both pastorates, he sought to devote the congregation to prayer during the week for at least an hour.
          7. Once in May 1931, they began praying at 7:15 as usual and prayed until ML-J closed the meeting at 10 pm.
          8. At his first church when the congregation was about 80, they had 40 people coming to pray.
          9. Harry Wood prayed to death in 1931. 134

        5. We need to set our hopes on God for revival.
          1. He longed for revival and saw amazing movements of God’s Spirit several times in his ministry.
          2. In 1930, he and some other pastors gathered “to consider means for promoting a Revival of Religion.” 124
          3. Toward this end they pledged:
            • To abstain from any sin which would hinder revival.
            • To pray daily for 30 minutes that God would send revival.
            • To call constantly for true conversion in their churches.
          4. “Pray for revival? Yes, go on, but do not try to create it, do not attempt to produce it, it is only given by Christ himself. The last church to be visited by a revival is the church trying to make it.” 128
          5. However, he did not disparage the average means of grace whereby men and women would come to Christ slowly.
          6. But he wanted nothing to do with fake “revivals.” One newspaper wrote about him: “He had no use for the type of man who was always trying to produce a revival; there were men in the churches today who seemed to regard a revival as a hobby…” 84
          7. After about 6 months as pastor, his wife was one of the first converts in his ministry. “She had always feared God; her life was upright, and yet she knew that she had no personal consciousness of the forgiveness of sins, no sense of inward joyful communion with Christ.” 110
          8. Shortly after that other church officers became converted. One “rushed to speak” to ML-J before he left the pulpit. 109
          9. On one evening 40 people were baptized in his first church.

        6. Seriousness is a Christian virtue because of the great realities with which they alone deal.
          1. His biography has 13 photos of ML-J between 15 and 70 where he is not smiling in one of them.
          2. There are no jokes in his sermons.
          3. The people would arrive and wait in silence until the worship began.
          4. There was no band or even choir.
          5. “If there were celebrities in the congregation he neither knew nor cared.” 302
          6. “It is not our service; the people do not come there to see us or please us… They, and we, are there to worship God, and to meet with God.” Preaching and Preachers, 263
          7. He prayed a lengthy Sunday morning pastoral prayer.
          8. In preaching “the first thing you had to do was to demonstrate to the people that what you were going to do was very relevant and urgently important.”

        7. The greatest Christian blessing is to know Christ.
          1. “My request is this: That we all be honest with one another in our conversation and discussions and never profess to believe more than is actually true to our experience.” 89
          2. For many years, he placed great emphasis on experiential Christianity. He wanted no part of a dead but orthodox church.
          3. To this end, he started a Wednesday night fellowship meeting where believers would testify about their salvation. (He did not preach at these meetings.)
          4. Often workers would come straight from work, still in their dirty clothes, in order to pray and hear the testimonies. 140
          5. “If you honestly believe (and remember it is your responsibility) that you derive greater benefit by spending your day in the country than you do by attending a place of worship, well then, go to the country. Don’t come here if you honestly feel that you do better elsewhere. … All I ask of you is, be consistent. When someone dies in your family, do not come to ask the church in which you do not believe to come to bury him. Go to the seaside for consolation.” 91
          6. He knew that the churches were helping to produce false converts so he rejected the altar call and things like it.

        8. Truth is more valuable than friendship, recognition, or opportunity.
          1. As liberalism grew, the Christians in the major churches decided to talk with the unbelievers who were calling themselves Christians.
          2. However, this dialogue proceeded on the assumption that these men were true believers.
          3. By so doing, the true Christians were accepted, but so were the false.
          4. ML-J would have none of this ecumenism.
          5. He lost friends and influence because he would not endorse Billy Graham or others like him.
          6. Yet 50 years late, his fears have come true: the Christians who tried to gain more influence have actually lost their witness.
          7. ML-J loved the gospel more than influence, fame, or reputation.

        Sources

        Murray, Iain. The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, single volume.
        Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Preaching and Preachers.
        Catherwood, Christopher. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
        Sargent, Tony. The Sacred Anointing.

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