Death of the Spirit

There was a time when humanity saw a correlation between the natural and the supernatural. A time when events that surrounded us had a spiritual connection. People believed that the gods and goddesses were at work in helping, punishing, or toying with mankind. Today we live in a rational world with a rational culture. When people act on an emotional level we proclaim them to be irrational. The supernatural is replaced with the natural so we may wander about with the illusion of control. This illusion has its foibles, however, for there are times when the rational has its limitations. Yet, we continue to find ways to avoid the uncomfortable possibility that we do not have the ability to solve everything. The supernatural will simply not go away.

In those old primitive days humanity was concerned with keeping the local deities happy. Drought, fire, storms, pandemics among other "natural" disasters were a warning that the gods or goddesses were not happy. Somehow they had been offended and now must be appeased. Often times the people were clueless as to what they had done. In Acts 17 Paul addresses the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill. Paul had seen many altars to the "Unknown God" around the city and uses this as a way to introduce the Lord God and His Son, Messiah Jesus. The background of the altars came from a pandemic that swept through the city. No one knew which god or goddess they had offended so they released sheep to wander around and whatever temple they went near they were offered up to that deity to appease them and ask them to stop the plague. However, some sheep never found a temple, so the people of Athens built an altar to the "unknown god" and made a sacrifice just in case there was a god they were not aware of. The point is, plague equals angry god. We have grown far beyond those foolish days of superstition and ignorance. Now we can explain troubling events and natural occurrences with logic and science. When we do not have an explanation we just blame things on poor management, global warming or manmade climate change. There is no need to revert to the unsophisticated days of the supernatural. 

For those who are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the supernatural is not, at least in theory and rhetoric, unreasonable or foreign. We speak of the power of God and the power of His Spirit. God is a supernatural being who is worthy of our worship, praise and obedience. He is also a God Whom we have come to contain and surround by our theological fences. He is a God of love and compassion Who demonstrated that through the birth of His Divine Son who lived, was crucified, died, was buried and rose again, conquering death. This God offers forgiveness and life eternal to those who accept and believe in His Son, Messiah, Jesus. These are all truths to be accepted, except for the theological box thing. We, as believers, tend to struggle to keep things in balance. We spring from one doctrinal belief to another and find Scripture  to support our position. We also tend to ignore the texts that bring an opposing point of view. Sometimes we are a bit like those in Athens, not sure what to do with God or what to do with the natural events that surround us.

It is clear from God's Word that there were and will be natural events of a tragic nature that touch our lives. Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and plagues that exterminate lives have been with humanity from the earliest times, Some are a simple result of living on a fallen planet that is touched by sin and, like us, "creation groans" (Romans 8:22) under the weight and corruption caused by man's rebellion against the Creator. These are the natural consequences of events in Genesis 3 that are with us every day. However, God also makes it clear that such events may be of His design to alert His people, or to bring judgement on those who reject His call to believe and follow Him. The question might be, "How can you tell?" Is this a message from the Lord wrapped in an earthquake or a pandemic? The follow up question could be, "Does it matter?"

In our rational, despiritualized culture such natural events are passed over or excused. The people of God used to understand that such situations were a call to introspection and prayer. Is every tragic occurrence the judgement of God? Probably not. However, there are indeed times when the Lord does bring such discipline upon His people. In 2 Samuel 21:1 we read. "Now there was a famine in the land in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord." The famine was indeed a message from the Lord, a judgement due to the brutality of Saul upon the Gibeonites. Out in the wilderness the Israelites rebel against Moses and Arron and we read of this result, "So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun.” Drought, famine, plague, and you can add the earthquake when Korah rebels and the drought called by Elijah in the days of Ahab (See 1 Kings 17-18). Famine was predicted in Acts 11 and famine, death, and fire will come by God's hand in Revelation 18.

In addition to "natural" disasters, God will sometimes use the unrighteous to discipline or challenge His own to repent. It is a call to wake up and rekindle their devotion to Him. God used the oppression of the Philistines, Babylonians and Romans, to name a few. Within the past year we have seen fires, earthquakes, a few volcanic eruptions, a world wide pandemic, and leaders desiring power who flaunt the truth and righteousness of God. Are these God's judgements? Is the Apocalypses upon us? Are we under the wrath of God? Is this the end of life as we know it? An end to the USA? (Which, by the way, does not seem to be a power worth mentioning in any Biblical prophecy.) What do we do with all of this? It seems believers either find little prompting toward confession and repentance in the face of such things or find a spiritual battle hidden in everything, So believers I have known stressed over which cereal to buy, "Does this company have ties to some godless regime?" Where is the balance?

It seems that we do, indeed, need to pay attention to the world and the calamities that surround us. They certainly should be a reminder to walk with purity and humility before the God we say we follow. Introspection is not a  bad thing. Neither is confession and repentance. As the years go by we may well find that our devotion to God and to the principles of His word are less and less acceptable to the world around us. It would be naïve to think that the Lord does not notice the growing depravity of our society or the gradual acceptance of evil by His own. Things that were appalling or unacceptable have quietly invaded the Body of Christ. Profanity and sexual impropriety are woven into what we see as entertainment. The push for acceptance of perversion and the killing of the unborn as an acceptable a social norm is a daily assault on God's holy standards. How would this not invite some divine repercussions? 

The question for today is simple. Has rationality brought about the death of the Spirit? Do we explain away the actions of a Holy God or do they draw us to repentance and a call to holy living. It is much easier to ignore or explain away the disasters that surround us. The natural answer is less disturbing than falling into the hands of an angry God. Just how rational have we become? Just what would God have to do to capture our attention? Famine, fire, plagues, godless people coming to power, an assault on our religious liberties and freedoms. Is this a warning sign or just a sign of the times. Is it God's hand upon us or just the course of nature randomly unfolding? If nothing else, maybe it is something to think about when you see God's creation convulsing around you.   

BACON!!!!!

Bacon! It is probably one of the strongest contributing factors toward the abandoning of Biblical dietary regulations. Followers of the Jewish Messiah have worked overtime to find or invent reasons why we can eat bacon. Perhaps if the prohibition was about not eating broccoli or collard greens we could go along with it but, "Hey don't mess with my bacon." As we covered in a blog or two ago (See, "Is God upset with vegetarians" Posted Oct. 22, 2014) translators will even intentionally mistranslate and add words to the text to justify their love for bacon. Today we consider the text used by most to show that God did away with all dietary regulations for Jews and Gentiles and, for some, all of Torah as well.

The account is recorded for us by Luke in Acts 10. I encourage you to read the whole passage, Acts 10 and 11. In brief, there is a Gentile named Cornelius who is a Roman centurion. He is said to be devout and fears God. God comes to him in a vision and tells him to send men to Joppa to get Peter. They are to bring Peter back with them. Cornelius does so. As they are approaching Joppa, Peter goes up to the roof of the house where he is staying. God sends Peter a vision as well. A sheet comes down from heaven with all kinds of animals on it, clean, unclean, kosher, ceremonially unclean, all kinds of animals. God tells Peter to, "Arise, kill and eat." Peter says, "Not so Lord, I have never eaten anything common or unclean." God responds, "What God has made cleansed you must not call common". God does this three times for emphasis so Peter is sure to get the vision. Peter is confused and wonders what the vision could possibly mean. Enter the men from Cornelius. God says, "Behold there are three men looking for you. Arise and go with them." So Peter goes with them and the commentators go, "Ahhaa! God told Peter to eat bacon." Well, they really say God told Peter that all animals are now clean and he should feel free to eat any of them. Including bacon. If you care to check this out you can see commentaries by Simon Kistemaker, Ironside, F. F. Bruce, and Charles Carter and Ralph Earl. All respected scholars, and the last three use Mark 7 as the justification for their interpretation, sharing their understanding that Jesus made all food clean. (A distortion of the text if you are at all unbiased in reading the account. See the Oct. 22 post) 

Now it is clear that God gave Peter a shocking illustration. A Torah observant Jewish Rabbi eating common or unclean food, how could this possibly be so? The text says Peter "wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant" (Acts 10:17). Peter knows what he saw he just doesn't know what it means. The same was true of Pharaoh in Genesis 41, Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 and for Daniel in Chapter 8, just to mention a few. Visions and dreams can be difficult to understand. God is the one who reveals the meaning. Let's see what God reveals to Peter. 

The servants of Cornelius (remember he is a Gentile, Roman, a centurion no less) arrive, spend the night, and then Peter goes with them to Caesarea. Cornelius tries to worship Peter who tells him not to. Peter is a good Rabbi and knows that is taboo. Cornelius has a houseful of people and invites Peter in. Chapter 10:28 "Then he [Peter] said to them, 'You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean." When did that happen? There is nothing here in the text about unclean people. It was about unclean food, right? But Peter understood the vision to be an object lesson about people, not food. Well, perhaps that is clarified a little later in the text. While Peter is speaking the Gentiles believe, evidenced by the Holy Spirit. On this basis Peter baptizes them. They are now a part of the believing community. 

In Chapter 11 the apostles and brethren heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God. Peter is confronted in verse 2, "You went into uncircumcised men and shared a meal with them." Now take just a minute here and be reasonable. Cornelius is said to be "a devout man and one who feared, honored, God, gave generously and prayed." It seems he is pretty familiar with the God of Israel, familiar with the laws and customs of the Jews. God tells him that a Jewish man named Simon Peter can answer his questions. When Peter arrives, Cornelius is so impressed he bows before him. Having been corrected Cornelius invites Peter to stay for dinner. (Just a side thought. Realistically, what are the chances he would intentionally serve Jewish Peter unclean food?)  Having been confronted, Peter shares the vision of the sheet and animals and the house of Cornelius receiving the Word and the Spirit. Chapter 11:18, "When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "We can eat bacon!" well, no they said, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life." It seems everyone who hears of the vision sees God's message as one relating to Gentiles coming into the Kingdom. They somehow miss the main point of the end to Jewish dietary laws and possibly all ceremonial laws as well.

Let us go back to the two other visions I mentioned. Pharoah has a vision of seven fat cows being eaten by seven skinny cows. God tells him, through Joseph, that these are years of plentiful harvests followed by years of famine. That is God's message. If we follow the logic and exegesis applied to Acts 10 and 11 Pharaoh should have sent soldiers all across Egypt to kill every skinny cow as the dream/vision is obviously about cows not years. Kill off the skinny cows and avoid the famine. If he focused on God's interpretation he would have been legalistic and missed the "kill the skinny cows" message. Nebuchadnezzar also has a dream recorded for us in Daniel 2. God reveals the dream and its interpretation to Daniel. It is a great statue with the head of gold, chest of silver, belly of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. They are kingdoms God has established before time. The head is of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. Nebbie is pleased to know the meaning of the vision. But not so much with the end of his and the coming of other kingdoms. So in Chapter 3, he makes a ninety foot statue of pure gold and calls everyone to worship the statue. Not just a head of gold, but it is all gold. This way his kingdom will never end. He will just modify God's vision and make his own interpretation. It was about a statue of a man after all. Not coming kingdoms, right?  If you want a New Testament illustration, both Paul in 1 Cor 13 and James in James 1 use a mirror to make a point. The obvious thing God is revealing to us is that good followers of God and His Son should own a mirror. In fact not owning a mirror might mean we are not being obedient.

I am sure that you can easily see the flaws in all of these applications. Nebuchadnezzar learned that his statue could not replace God's interpretation of God's vision. Yet we have no problem replacing God's interpretation of Peter's vision with our own. Whatever you decide to believe about dietary regulations is up to you. But if you want to justify eating bacon, Acts 10 and 11 offer no help. Unless you don't like God's interpretation of God's vision. 

We are convinced that dietary laws don't apply to anyone. Could it be that after years of rejecting God's regulations it is almost impossible to consider a different perspective? A perspective that actually fits better with Scripture. However it is important to please our taste buds. So enjoy a piece of "golden bacon"; I am sure God will be okay with our own interpretation of His revelation, don't you?