spiphywarfare

Category: Spiritual Fitness

  • Don’t Be Guided by Emotions

    Years ago, when I was in the 10th grade, I found myself in a situation that would change my life forever. It all started innocently enough in the school cafeteria, where I was having lunch with a friend I had known for eight years. As I finished my meal and got up to leave, I heard a shout, “Hey!” Turning around, I saw a single french fry flying towards me. It hit my shirt, leaving a smear of ketchup.

    Annoyed, I told my friend he would have to clean the ketchup off my shirt. He refused and suggested we take it outside. The next thing I remember is him standing up and turning his back to me. I picked up the chair he had been sitting on and hit him with it. My next memory is of another friend yelling my name while a strong hand gripped my shoulder. Apparently, after hitting my friend with the chair, I grabbed him by the hair and started beating his head against a radiator. In the chaos, I even elbowed a coach who tried to intervene.

    This incident left a lasting impression on me. During the three days of in-school suspension that followed, I had plenty of time to reflect on my actions. I realized that my reaction was driven 95% by personal issues I was dealing with at the time and had only a little to do with my friend’s actions. It dawned on me that if I didn’t learn to control my emotions, I was on a path that could lead to prison or worse.

    Thus began my long journey towards emotional control. It involved a lot of prayer and a humbling realization that I was not nearly as important as I thought I was. This newfound perspective significantly reduced the stress in my life.

    I often see trivial matters causing conflict among professing Christians on social media. Many of these disputes seem like they may stem from personal circumstances and an inflated sense of the importance of one’s own opinion.

    Today, I follow many people online whom I’ve never met and likely never will. At least not this side of eternity. I choose not to engage in battles over minor issues with them, recognizing them as my siblings in Christ. This brings me peace.

  • Christian, Avoid These Two Things

    Christian, Avoid These Two Things

    Short but true. Christians who want to walk in a God-honoring manner should steer clear of the Enneagram and the heretic Russell Moore.

    Suggest you go read the entire thread

    If you haven’t read much on the Enneagram or are considering using it, do some research on it. At least read this article as an introduction.

    And, if you don’t have a Twitter/X account, you should be able to read the whole thread mentioned above right here. If you do have one, @WokePreacherTV would be worth a follow.

  • Wicked People

    I’m going to toss this out there with the full realization that it may make some people uncomfortable. Much of modern evangelicism wants to talk about only God’s grace and his love. Both are real. Both are amazing beyond our belief. Should he withdraw either of them, we have no hope of salvation. Sadly, the spotlight is often so focused on grace and love that other aspects of spiritual reality lie off-stage, forgotten in total darkness.

    One of those forgotten realities deals with wicked people. Psalm 11:5 (ESV) says:

    The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

    God can’t hate non-existent things. He hates the wicked (Psalm 5:5). Amidst the grace, love, and generally get your feels going talk, it seems we sometimes forget this fact:

    THERE. ARE. WICKED. PEOPLE.
    You probably know some and hesitate to recognize them as such. I say that because, in my fifty+ years, I have only called one, single, solitary person on the that I’ve known personally as “wicked,” and it was one of the most difficult things I’ve done.

    I’ve recently realized I should be open to recognizing folks as wicked – more often and much more quickly. Not doing so leads to harm as much, if not more, than calling too many people wicked too quickly.

  • Joining a Battle

    I can’t help but think that for years, many in this country viewed “getting saved” as something used on the path to Maslow’s Self-Actualization. Something like a box to be checked to truly experience the American dream and get what we want out of this life.

    Maybe that’s why church membership is dropping and people mock Christianity. Christianity is not a group of people who say a specific set of words that cosmic forces must obey in order to secure an eternal resting place. It isn’t going to a church to see what the church can add to your life. It isn’t using God to give you material blessings and health.

    “Ask Jesus into your heart and voila, you’re done.”
    This ain’t it.

    Christianity, rightly viewed, is loving Jesus so much that you are willing to step into the most vicious, consequential, and longest-running war in all creation. Deciding to obey the commands of Christ, which is what those who love him do; could be, and likely will be, the costliest decision any person can ever make.

    Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

    Matthew 10:34-39

    A sword is a weapon of warfare. Peace, even in your own home life, is not the goal of following Christ or even an assurance Jesus gives us. Rather, he was clear that we have to love him more than anything and lose our life for his sake if we are to truly find our own lives. You have to lose your life.

    For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him. They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with 10,000 to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000? If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace. In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions.

    Luke 14:28-33

    Want to make Christianity into a source of mockery? Don’t tell people what it truly costs. Get someone involved and proclaim them to be believers then watch as they return to their old ways or drop out. Tell them, “Ask Jesus into your heart and voila, you’re done.” This ain’t it.

    Then, watch them “deconstruct” from a faith they never truly held because they weren’t ready, and they didn’t want to pay the true price of following Christ. He told us that even when we do well, we are to consider ourselves as worthless slaves. That’s a far cry from “God wants you to have your best life now” and other sorts of easy believism.

    And what does it truly cost? A dedication to Jesus Christ that could, though it doesn’t always, cost you Every. Single. Thing. In your life. If it does, and if you are called to pay that price, you have to do it. If it does, I pray God grants you strength, comfort, and joy as you endure suffering for His glory!

  • Am I a Christian Nationalist?

    Christian Nationalism is all the (cause of) rage at the moment. I have to admit that from my view it seems (as in, it appears probable) that many use the term as a synonym for normal, run-of-the-mill Christianity. Some things I read on it make me think, “Yeps, I guess I’m a Christian Nationalist” while other things I read make me think, “If that’s Christian Nationalism, I’m definitely not one. I don’t know anyone who favors conversions at gunpoint.” So, in light of the fact that there is no agreed upon definition I offer the following.

    1. If thinking a nation and it’s people are best served when the government operates with principles and values that align with those laid out in scripture makes one a Christian Nationalist, then I suppose I am.

    2. If voting for candidates and policies that are more aligned with Christian values over and against those that oppose same values makes one a Christian Nationalist, then I am guilty again, and gladly so.

    3. If thinking that as far as your vote determines the direction of the nation, that voting for candidates dedicated to murder and perversion aligns one, and makes one complicit, with wickedness then, once again, I am a Christian Nationalist.

    4. If the ideal form of government forces conversion to Christianity (which it couldn’t really anyway) is what one means, then I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    5. If Christian Nationalism means non-believers are treated like second-class citizens then I cannot be counted among the Christian Nationalists.

    6. If Christian Nationalism includes an idea that the Church and Government are the same institution, or melded together in some form where one holds official power over the other, then I have to say I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    7. If Christian Nationalism involves thinking in terms of race (melanin count) for value of body, soul, or ideas, then I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    The problem I see increasingly is the attacking of items 1-3 and then when called on it, the same people stating they only meant for those that hold positions 4-6. This is a form of argument I first heard of listening to a James Lindsay video. This is why the more I read, the more apparent it becomes that for the vast majority, “Christian Nationalism” is only used to make their attacks on traditional Christianity more palatable.

    I’ll be updating this post as time goes on and this idea develops more.

    May 10, 2023 UPDATE. There isn’t really anything I’ve seen to change my mind on what I’ve written. It’s only been reinforced.

  • Should I Stay or Should I go Now

    I walked into church this morning. Just like I have so many other mornings for the past 40 years. Same parking area. Same building. I can’t say same pew because I’m one of the few Baptist who don’t hold to the Covenant of Assigned Seating. But I walked in with a heaviness that I’d never walked in with before.

    I’ve missed services in the past when I knew my spirit wasn’t right. If I’m off-kilter and can’t get right through prayer before service, I would rather stay home to read and/or pray than bring a disruptive spirit into worship.

    This day was different though. It was different because it was just being there that was causing this heaviness. My intent was to walk through those doors, worship with my brothers and sisters, and walk out of them for the last time. Ever.

    I sat in a pew near the back, giving me a good view of the sanctuary. It was near the door and I only greeted a few people walking in. I looked around and saw no less than two dozen people that had known me for forty years. People who had watched me struggle. People I had let down. People who loved me. Even more, there were people in that building who had known me since preschool. Only a handful but they were there.

    Sitting there brought mixed feelings about my intentions. How could I walk away from this group of saints? I loved every one of the familiar faces, not just the ones I’ve known for many decades. These are my people. Yet, at the same time, my intentions were being solidified. As I looked around, I knew so many of these were not just warming a pew. They were giving of their hard-earned money or time, or both. They were investing in the church.

    In turn, the church was investing in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

    It always has as far as I know. I’d always felt a bit of pride (I know I shouldn’t have) going to a Southern Baptist Church. I felt it because in my experience we were looked down on a little bit for being too concerned with what scripture says and being a little too dedicated in our lives. As a teen and a young adult, when someone asked where I went to church, my response was often met with, “Oh.” As if to say any further conversation was unnecessary. That was especially true when Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted to strike up a conversation.

    Sadly, it isn’t that way anymore. I’ve been watching the SBC fall prey to worldly ideologies for a few years now. It’s been happening for far longer than that. It is disheartening to watch people I love strive together for Christ not knowing that they are giving to an organization that is working against them.

    The latest for me, and possibly the nail in the coffin, is over abortion. The position of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission (ERLC is funded by Cooperative Program dollars), the position of Bart Barber (SBC President nominee), and many others is that with Roe v Wade likely being overturned, states need to slow their roll on how they proceed on this issue. They, and many other “pro-lifers” have revealed themselves as who they are in a letter to all state legislatures in this country. For the record, Barber is not a signatory but his position aligns.

    Women are victims of abortion and require our compassion and support as well as ready access to counseling and social services in the days, weeks, months, and years following an abortion.

    As national and state pro-life organizations, representing tens of millions of pro-life men, women, and children across the country, let us be clear: We state unequivocally that we do not support any measure seeking to criminalize or punish women and we stand firmly opposed to include such penalties in legislation.

    https://www.nrlc.org/uploads/communications/051222coalitionlettertostates.pdf

    They “firmly oppose” any effort to criminalize or punish women who have abortions. Their position would be that the woman who killed her newborn immediately after birth, should be fine (legally) if only she had gone to an abortionist the day before. I doubt any of them would, at least openly, support the woman in this case not being prosecuted. But they oppose any law that would punish her for killing her child the day before. What is the difference? Location, location, location.

    When I see people having to use close to 1,100 words, or just over 1,400 words to explain why their position makes sense, I tend to expect Olympic quality verbal gymnastics. The links above didn’t let me down. They could state a clear, consistent, and concise position that allows for the off-cases like Barber’s position points out. It could be <thirty words:

    Women voluntarily participating in aborting their child should be prosecuted as any other suspect and should have the same access to consideration of exigent circumstances as any other defendant.

    Me

    I’m not sure how to process this as anything other than deception.

    It angers me to know that so many of these people I love are unaware of where their money is going and what it is supporting.

    End of Part 1.

  • This Year

    Ephesian 5:15 & 16 “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (HCSB)

    That reference to making the most is literally “buying back the time” but I like the translation of “redeeming the time.” Sadly, I confess right here, I have done a poor job of redeeming the time. To be honest I’d say I’ve wasted too much of it. Left me do that no more. My primary, though not exclusive, focus for the near future on this blog, and elsewhere, will be on The Church. More on why and what that means in this video:

  • Dear Fellow SBC-Affiliated Church Member: What are you Funding?

    I fear too many members of SBC churches are giving money, intending to further the Gospel of Christ, and unknowingly funding the teaching of a false Gospel in our seminaries. This is happening through professors and leaders who embrace false teachings and knowingly hide what they are doing.

    Walter Strickland is one such professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Like other SBC affiliated seminaries, some of their funding comes through the SBC Cooperative Program which gives about 22 percent of its funds to the seminaries. And?

    Strickland’s “favorite theological book of all time” is “Liberation and Reconciliation: A Black Theology,” in his own words​1​ (Jude Three Project, 2016). In this book, author J. Deotis Roberts writes that Black Theology needs “to be informed not only by the Christian faith but by the explorations into the unconscious by Freud and his associates, as well as the analysis of social, economic, and political ills by Marx and other social philosophers” (Roberts, 2005, p. 54) ​2​. He also claims that “Whites desire to be ‘as gods’ to blacks” and claims they become angry if blacks respond with Matthew 23:9 (Roberts, 2005, p. 57). He also claims that whites are collectively guilty of racism and should be haunted by the sins of the fathers and mothers (Roberts, 2005, p. 57). Whites appear to be reduced to viewing blacks in one of two ways: they can be overt racist that hate blacks, in which case they can change and be reconciled in love to blacks; or they can be “not aware of any race problem” and therefore be guilty of “preconscious racism” (Roberts, 2005, p 53).

    Our Lord and Savior taught in Matthew 12:31 that “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” There is one. One. Unforgivable. Sin. What does Strickland’s all-time favorite theological book teach? Roberts writes on page 59 that “Preconsious racism is a type of [emphasis added] ‘unpardonable sin’” (2005) that cannot be forgiven of since it can’t be recognized and repented of. By classifying it as a “type of” unpardonable sin Roberts contradicts a direct teaching of Christ. If whites won’t admit they are racist, they can’t be forgiven of sin.

    Strickland also embraces the teachings of James Cone. The New York Times reports that “Reading the black liberation theologian James Cone helped Mr. Strickland, the theology professor, see how white theologians often ignore the structural sources of earthly suffering” ​3​ (Worthen, 2019). Strickland states in this article that Cone’s ideas “are in play” but he won’t actually use his name when he’s speaking to white congregations. Wonder why?

    Perhaps here would be an appropriate place to draw on the efforts of Neil Shenvi, a Christian apologist who has done excellent work in the area of Critical Race Theory. His page of quotes from Cone’s “A Black Theology of Liberation” could shed light on why Mr. Strickland feels the need to sneaks Cones theology “in the back door by walking around the linguistic land mines” when it comes to orthodox Christianity (Worthen, 2019). Go to Shenvi’s page above and you can find quotes about “taking honkies out,” about the Bible not being infallible, how “God was not the author of the Bible,” and discover that, the teaching Strickland brings into churches and the seminary has this as its goal: “The goal of black theology is the destruction of everything white, so that blacks can be liberated from alien gods” (Shenvi, unk)​4​.

    Finally, while I’m not sure what I feel about the site this is hosted on, this video sounds as if he believes THE purpose of the church is to social ills. Otherwise, the gospel is just a white man’s religion (Maples, 2020)​5​.

    Walter Strickland brings perspective that is racist, violates/dismisses God’s Word, and he passes it on to our future pastors and missionaries. He is partly enabled in doing this through the giving of many unsuspecting (I hope) faithful members at SBC churches across the country.

    1. 1.
      Jude 3 Project. 6 The Balanced Scholar: The Life and Work of J. Deotis Roberts | Walter Strickland. YouTube. Published October 2016. Accessed January 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxqW-HQ8Fuc
    2. 2.
      Roberts JD. Liberation and Reconciliation: A Black Theology. 2nd ed. Westminster John Knox Press; 2005.
    3. 3.
      Worthen M. Can Black Evangelicals Save the Whole Movement? New York Times.
    4. 4.
      Shenvi N. Quotes from Cone’s Black Theology of Liberation. Shenvi Apologetics. Accessed January 1, 2021. Quotes from Cone’s Black Theology of Liberation
    5. 5.
      Maples J. SBC Seminary Professor Says He Had to Embrace Another Gospel to “Keep His Faith.” Reformation Charlotte. Published November 2, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2021. https://reformationcharlotte.org/2020/11/02/sbc-seminary-professor-says-he-had-to-embrace-another-gospel-to-keep-his-faith/

  • Naked Bible Podcast

    If you haven’t heard of Dr. Michael Heiser, or his Naked Bible Podcast, then I’d urge you to correct that. 😁 Dr. Heiser is an expert in ancient languages. I’ve always heard that we need to read the Bible in context, he points out that we need to read it out in proper context which isn’t the context of a 21st Century, Western Christian.

    Not too long ago while reading through Deuteronomy, I was a bit perplexed by why the Israelites were instructed to build an altar out of unhewn stone. I had wondered if maybe it had something to do with using prohibited technology. It didn’t.

    How do I know that? I wrote Dr. Heiser a question, and it was answered in a recent episode of his podcast. I thought it was so considerate of him to give his time to help me understand this passage of the Bible. He has a saying along the lines of, “If something in the Bible is weird, it’s important.”

    If you, like me, routinely commute, I’d encourage that you give this podcast a listen with an open mind. I guarantee you I have not found anything he says yet that violates scripture, but he has sure pointed out that I’ve had the wrong view of some things.

  • The Social Justice Gospel

    The church is infected. The infection is an ideology based in Marxist thought that fundamentally opposed to the all-sufficient, saving work of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Like most things infected, it starts stinking if left untreated. Unbeknownst to me, the infection has been going on for years and the stench of it finally caught my attention.

    It goes by many names: critical race theory, social justice, social gospel, far-left orthodoxy, etc. It’s all the same stuff and uses the same special vocabulary. When you repeatedly hear terms like whiteness, white privilege, systemic racism, woke, and other similar phrases,  you are witnessing the infection. Bear in mind, I’m speaking of it in the church. Obviously, we should not expect those outside the family of God to adhere to God’s truths since they remain in rebellion. It appears some of the church’s “leaders” are in rebellion as well. There is something systemic, and it is this demonic doctrine.

    I’ve spent much of my free time for the last couple of months studying on this. It’s dizzying, disturbing, dangerous. Dizzying because its proponents use amazing communicative gymnastics to say what they are saying without saying it. Disturbing because it is so twisted. Dangerous because it has so embedded itself in the church.

    Rooting it out requires that we understand what we are looking at/for. Like I said earlier, they don’t speak clearly because they can’t. If they did, they would out themselves instantly.

    I came across this video. While it just scratches the surface in the hour it takes to watch it, this is probably one of the best places I’ve seen the problems this ideology presents when it is blended with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Very good info in the video description as well.

    I recommend this video.