Moral decay

R.C. Sproul referenced this Gallup poll today:

In 1940, public school teachers ranked the top seven disciplinary problems at public schools. They were talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise, running in the hall, cutting in line, dress code violations, and littering. By 1990, the top seven disciplinary problems had changed somewhat. They were now drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, and assault (Harris 20).

He also referenced a 1948 paper by a Harvard sociologist who predicted a great decline in the culture because of the breakdown of the family. From 1910-1945 the divorce rate in America had increased from 10% to 25% (Sproul mentioned that it was 40% by 1980 and over 50% today). The increase to 25% was seen as untenable. Beyond that, there are many today who choose to cohabitate and have children in that setting because of the contemporary cultural mores which deems such choices as normative.

Chuck Colson mentioned in a speech recently that the popular notion among humanist sociologists is that the greatest cause of crime is poverty. Yet, when Colson left prison in 1975, the prison population in America was 320,000. Today it is over 2.5 million. At a time when the American economy, affluence and general prosperity rose to levels unprecedented in human history, the United states prison population has increased 8 fold.

Christian sociologists (do they exist? let's say Christian commentators) affirm that the greatest cause, and most likely the only cause, of crime in the world revolves around morality. Is something inherently wrong in and of itself? Is it only illegal to embezzle or is it also wrong on an objective, moral level? Secular-humanists will tell you that nothing is wrong on an objective, moral level because there are no absolute standards of morality. Take the current drug problem in America. The argument for legalization revolves around it being "a victimless crime". Even many fiscal conservatives are in favor of decriminalizing many drugs because of the financial burden investigating, prosecuting and incarcerating individuals has on the federal government (your tax dollars). What is most often lost in any discussion of crime and behavior is the question of the most importance. Is it wrong in itself?

I in no way claim that America before the sexual and cultural revolution of the 1960's was a monolithic Christian country and culture. All that is necessary to impress morals on a society is a majority opinion, because governments (especially in a democratic republic) are nothing more than a reflection of the culture, the will of the society. So the government can never be blamed for the breakdown in manners, the increase of crime or the absence of moral character.

People, starting at the individual level, must stand up for what is right because it is right. For no other reason than because it is the truth. And how do we know truth? Can it be found in the nucleotides of a genetic sequence? Can it be found in the redshift of a quasar? Of course not. But can truth be felt? Can it be identified through the beating of a heart or the yearning expression of a hope? No. At least not reliably. If truth were accountable to feelings, then all would be truth and nothing would be true. When you ask the Christian, or the Muslim, or the Jew, or the Hindi or even the Atheist what he feels, he will give you his truth and the sum total of all these conflicting, mutually exclusive truths is bitterly empty. The only possible way to answer the four main dilemmas in life, which according to Ravi Zacharias are origin, meaning, morality and destiny (where did we come from, why are we here, what should we do and where are we going) is through specific, Divine revelation. Answers of this nature can only come from the source of the circumstance. Now, there are competing entries for the title of the Divine revelation, and some would say that none of them truly are, or perhaps that it has been lost or exchanged, but there is one text that does answer all of the dilemmas in a consistent, concise and clear way verified by real time, real history and real experience.

Morality is the answer and the Bible is how we know it.

What's wrong with "Health-n-Wealth" preaching?

First, please read this whole article from Christianity Today.

These people are doing little more than taking Neo-Pentecostalism to its logical conclusions. This is the Word Faith movement of Benny Hinn and Joel Osteen. This is the prosperity gospel and the health gospel all rolled into one. It is no surprise that the American doctrinal export most pumped into these deceived peoples' minds is TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) which deceives well meaning Americans on a daily basis as well. Some excerpts to highlight:

"In its 2006 survey, Pew asked participants if God would "grant material prosperity to all believers who have enough faith." Eighty-five percent of Kenyan Pentecostals, 90 percent of South African Pentecostals, and 95 percent of Nigerian Pentecostals said yes. Similarly, when Pew asked if religious faith was "very important to economic success," about 9 out of 10 Kenyan, Nigerian, and South African renewalists said it was."
"I preach prosperity and the message of salvation, too," says Joe Imakando, a former cessationist Baptist who now pastors the 6,500-person Bread of Life Church in Lusaka, Zambia. The church has sprouted 53 branches around the country, as well as church plants in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania. Like many successful megachurch pastors in Africa, Imakando headlines his own local television show."

"But he scoffs at the "prosperity preacher" label sometimes given him. "Our churches are growing," he says, referring to his critics, "theirs are shrinking."

"Allan H. Anderson, professor of Global Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, says African renewalists are, indeed, eclipsing denominationally based churches and missions. "The older churches," he says, "are struggling to keep up with the jet-setting entrepreneurs who head up these new organizations.""

"If you're not willing to play that [prosperity] game," says Vince Bacote, associate professor of theology at Wheaton College, "get ready to get steamrolled."

It's sad to say that American churches and denominations have nearly bought in wholesale to the idea that "numbers don't lie". To quote Waylon Jennings, WRONG. To embrace this insanity is to reject all of historic Christianity which explicitly tells us that we will be hated for the truth of God's righteousness, holiness and love. And not just hated, but ridiculed, tortured, imprisoned and boycotted.
John 15:

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

Jesus takes our spiritual burdens and gives us the strength to survive because His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). As for physical and economic blessings, well if faith provides that, then martyrs across the ages have been cheated. Of course the "Jesus" of TBN is not the real Jesus and this ultimately is nothing more than idolatry. But it is certainly idolatry in the worst form. It is an idol that steals the name of Jesus and God and redefines it for its own gain.

To take the promises of God to the nation of Israel and apply it to modern day Christians is to take it utterly out of context. That was a unique covenant given to Israel which was BROKEN by Israel and no longer has any meaning even to Jews. Much of the Old Testament is Historical Narrative and is not commandments or deals brokered between God and Christians. Reading the covenant with the Israelites at Sinai as having any legal foundation to Christians is to reject the Analogia Fide as Peter stresses in 2nd Peter 3:

"15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."

All scripture must be interpreted in light of SCRIPTURE. If anything is found to be in contradiction, it must be rejected as misunderstood (if by accident) or deception (if by purpose). The Westminster Confession differentiates scripture that is easy to understand (which includes knowledge unto salvation) and that which is harder. In order to understand the more difficult, we use the easy to bring foreknowledge of God and His purposes.

""People turn it on and assume that TBN is American Christianity, and Americans know everything, so why not listen to it?" says Bonnie Dolan, founder and director of Zambia's Center for Christian Missions, a Reformed school for pastors. "[W]e have Zambians looking to the West for direction, and they associate TBN with the West. And it's killing our churches.""

"While Christians of all types and times have relied on God's material provision, the kind of blessings that such preachers often promise—such as divine expectation of abundant wealth, runaway professional success, and unassailable physical and emotional health—spring from a relatively recent, American brand of religious thought.

"The earliest proponents of positive thinking were spiritual innovators like Phineas P. Quimby and Mary Baker Eddy, founders of the New Thought movement and Christian Science, respectively. By the turn of the 20th century, Essek William Kenyon, a pastor and founder of Bethel Bible Institute, had incorporated similar ideas into his preaching on the finished work of Christ. Kenyon wrote that Christians could make a "positive confession" to bring emotional and physical desires into being. "What I confess," he is purported to have said, "I possess."

"In the 1930s, Kenneth Hagin added Kenyon's teachings to his Pentecostal beliefs to create what would become the Word-Faith movement. An Assemblies of God pastor, Hagin taught Christians that they could get rich by mustering enough faith. "Say it, do it, receive it, tell it," he said. He touted a "Rhema doctrine," which held that words spoken in faith must be fulfilled, spawning slogans like "name it and claim it." In the 1960s, a young associate of Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, began teaching that faith is a "force" which, when confessed out loud, brings material results. Within a couple decades, Word-Faith had grown into a sizable offshoot of charismatic faith.

"Like a chief leading his followers toward better lives, Oyedepo is a larger-than-life figure whose largess proves he is worth heeding. Churches like his are "very personality driven," says Wheaton's Bacote. "You have a dynamic personality who is also an authority figure. People aren't exactly thinking about democracy."

"Oyedepo teaches that "the Word of Faith is the key to triumphant living," and he lists "prosperity" as one of the 12 "pillars" of his ministry (others include "healing," "success," and "the supernatural"). But he also preaches salvation through Jesus Christ to millions and has launched a dizzying array of ministries offering hope and a better future to Nigerians."

Of course we should remember that they all aren't completely insane,

David Oginde, senior pastor of the 10,000-member Nairobi Pentecostal Church, believes he could triple his membership by promising wealth. "But if that is all I am teaching, then I have lost the message," he says. "The kingdom of God is built on the Cross, not on bread and butter."

Oginde sometimes counsels Christians burned by health-and-wealth preachers. One student "planted" his school money as a seed offering, then was thrown out of college for not paying tuition. "I gave my money to God, but it has not come back," the student said. Oginde replied, gently, "You did not give your money to God."

Desiring material provision is human nature. A roof, a coat, a bowl of food. No one should be condemned for desiring these things. The problem is when the hope of provision transcends subsistence and enters opulence. The idea that God WANTS me to drive a nice new car makes me sick. If it pleases Him to allow me to do that, fine, but I do not desire it or presume to claim that God desires it for me. Material prosperity isn't even the biggest danger in the African church. Instead, it is the cultural belief and embrace of a common and active supernatural god.

God is supernatural and CAN do anything at any time. But He is also ordered, and He designed all of the natural laws that we can observe. It pleases Him not to violate His natural laws without cause and since the days of the Apostles, historic Christianity asserts that He has not had common cause to violate them. This is because at the close of the canon, with its verification by miracles, all that is necessary for salvation is present in the scriptures. Our sickness and hunger do not give pleasure to God but it is important for our reproof, and we certainly deserve any consequences of sin that come our way. I expect no miracles in my life. It is enough that God created me, fearfully and wonderfully, let alone became flesh and died for me. What more should I desire?