For The Record

Forward, by Libby:

I know that it must seem like the attention we give this matter is excessive.  And I understand how uncomfortable this is for some people, because it feels too personal.  Because the person whose teaching we are examining and refuting is someone I know and used to count as a friend, it may seem to those looking on like a personal vendetta.  It is not.  Once and for all, we want to straighten that out.

There is nothing personal about this, and we here at DIUR have no grudge or vendetta against any one person. We only follow the Biblical mandate to test the spirits of church leaders, and if their teaching proves false, to face it head-on (see this previous post, and this one, for more on identifying and dealing with false teachers).

Believe me friends, there have been many times that I prayed this particular burden be taken from me; I have little joy in the doing of it.  But I'm afraid that if we were to stop now, because the pressure to do so was so much, or because we were causing such discomfort or anxiety to people we care about, or because of the massive blow our reputations have taken because of it, we would be doing a grave disservice to the One who called us.  We must see it through, and it is with a heart for obedience that we do so. 




By David:

We feel it necessary, since we have heard stories around our community, and since Ms. White continues to spin this thing as a personal "tiff," to  provide our local readers with an overview so you can judge for yourselves the accuracy of the stories you have read and heard.

It has happened that, over the past six months or so, readers (including us) of the blog FEED YOUR STRENGTH have been challenging the teachings of the blogger, Debi White.   Ms. White has never answered direct, pointed questions about her teaching, choosing instead to close her blog to comments.  Forgive me this observation, but that move suggests she sees herself more as an oracle than a blogger, and above being questioned.  While never responding to us, Debi did continue to make swipes at us in her blog, and continues to this day to frame the situation as a personal grudge or misunderstanding.  That is simply not the case.  We are trying to hold up Debi White's teaching to the light of the Scripture so that others can see it for what it is.  That is it.  We have never cast any aspersions on her character, lifestyle, history. . .not at all.  In fact, I finally pointed out just this in an email I wrote her on August 24, to which, as usual, she did not respond.  But we open that letter to you.  We want you to understand and judge the situation for yourself. 

Thanks again for reading.  Our hope is that we can encourage you to commit yourself to knowing God and His ways better, particularly by reading and studying His Word, and letting His Spirit illuminate your mind.  The text of my email to Debi follows.

8/24/2013

Debi:

I was struck a couple days ago with this realization.  While Libby and I and others have challenged your teaching/writing pointedly over the past six months (you have been asked to clarify your belief about Jesus being the only Lord, about universalism, about whether one should admonish re: the flagrant sin of another professing believer), you have never deigned to respond directly or clearly at all.  You have responded, however, in your way, by closing your blog to comments, and making, in writing, "back-handed" swipes at our motivations and character.

Do you see?  While we are trying to "turn the light onto" your teaching, you seem to be, apparently,  hoping the light will fade. . . then making swipes at our character and motivation. 

You have written that we have "mistreated you," that we have "talked negatively about you to others,"  that we "have callous hearts," that we have a "haughtily perceived superiority,"  that we "are unwilling to let God work," that we "lie." 

For the record, we purposed at the outset to make the challenges to your teaching nonpersonal.  Speaking for myself (David), I know precious little about your lifestyle or history.  But regarding my lifestyle and history: in my memory, no one has ever made the kind of accusations against me you have.  And I can say with certainty that I have never had a conversation about you outside my nuclear family.  But I'm not really troubled by your slander.  It goes with the territory.

So, a heads-up.  We are not acting whimsically.  Not reactionary.  just doing what our Lord has called on us to do.  On to the next step.

David Nitz

No Offense, Ms. Witherspoon

by David

I'm astounded sometimes at the foolishness of people who write for the "progressive church" audience.  (I'm purposely using the term "foolish" in the Biblical sense of choosing contrary to God's ways.  Cf. the Proverbs.)

There is concerted writing and teaching toward the conclusion that God doesn't really mind if we live immorally.  This bs teaching is done with full knowledge that the Bible, from Genesis to the Revelation, constantly calls God's people to be holy.  I don't think I need to multiply Bible references here;  if you belong to God, He has already taught you this;  you know this to be true. 

Believer, when God called you to follow Him, he "called you with a holy calling" and began to change your heart (mind, emotions and will).  If, beforehand, you were into pornography and sexual immorality, God called you to follow His ways, stay within His boundaries, view other men and women as brothers and sisters (not as meat, or a possible sexual conquest).  We live in a thoroughly debauched culture, in which people are shocked at nothing.  Nevertheless, here and now, Jesus call us to cleanness.  Light in darkness. Sadly, I must report to you (in the event no one ever told you) that many groups of people in America who meet together on Sundays and call themselves Christ-followers (or whatever is the fad this year) live lifestyles not substantially, morally-speaking, different from the lifestyles common to the lost world around them.  The Apostle Paul wrote that these days would come, so we shouldn't be surprised.  But he also challenges us to be alert, aware and to hold true in these last days. 

But back to my original theme, let me share the ideas of a couple blogs I've read lately to illustrate my point.  A couple months ago a local pastor was commending and forwarding a blog written by another "progressive" pastor titled something like "In Celebration of Yoga Pants."  In his blog this oh-so-cool dude wrote that one of his favorite pasttimes is hanging out in his local Starbucks to ogle the women customers in yoga pants.  Wink wink, smirk smirk.   In another blog recently, the writer (who identifies herself as a 60ish woman), relates with approval the following  story about her inlaws.  A supposedly happily-married woman gives  her husband permission to have a fantasy girlfriend, one at a time.  The blogger writes  "Men are apparently wired to notice women, cute celebrity women at that, so why not join the game, give it a for-fun voice and create one less avenue for tension?"    I feel that no one among God's people should even take the question seriously, much less feel it needs to be answered;  but there the question stands in all its foolishness.  Firstly, fellow-blogger, I should not be the one to tell you this.  Your mother should have taught you that men do not view attractive women as "cute."  In the real world of men, kittens are cute.  A bad joke may be sarcastically cute.  Men do not watch a shapely derriere in yoga pants because it is cute.  Men do not pay special attention to a particular actress or to their hot next-door neighbor because she is cute.  It is lust.  To label it otherwise is demonic.  God says so.

One of the greatest challenges facing Christian men is to keep a clear conscience.  To this end, historically, serious followers of Jesus have even quit their homelands to escape a morally corrupt culture.  Hoping that their children would fare better in an environment less hostile to their faith and calling.Let's just call sin sin.  Don't make light of it.  Don't minimize it.  Jesus died so that we can be free from the bondage of sin.  I heard a story about a young, graduating student who was being questioned about his beliefs and convictions who was asked "What do you think about sin?"  He answered "I'm against it."  Me, too.

An aferthought

by Libby

When my dad sent me this post to review and add my afterthought, at first, I didn't feel that I had anything to say; he pretty much covered it, as far as I could tell.  But as I reread it today in preparation to post it, I can't help but feel so discouraged.  Anyone that knows me knows that I spend a lot lot of time on the offensive: I fight for the Gospel of Christ, I fight for His bride, I fight against this treacherous progressive rubbish that is swallowing my brothers and sisters whole.  I put on the full armor of God and I charge into battle.  It's what I do.  But friends, I still have my days.  I still have my days where I'd just like to shrug off His armor, sink to the ground, hang my head, and allow the discouragement to wash over me.  And this particular post ..that it's even necessary ..has me feeling like this. 

I think there are a few reasons why this topic has me so disheartened. It's all just so worldly, and people don't see it.  That emotional infidelity could in any way be construed by any right-headed Christian as a wise way for couples to avoid tension is just so mind-blowingly worldly. I'm literally ...I think the word to describe me is "aghast," that an older Christian woman, whom the Bible tells us we young women are to turn to for counsel, would try to tell us that it's no big deal for our husbands to be emotionally unfaithful to us. My heart just sinks.  Who can we as young women turn to when this insidious trash is what the elder women in our church spew at us? 

 As a woman of faith, who does her best to model herself after the Proverbs 31 woman, to be a constant helpmeet, a trusted friend and lover, I absolutely deserve my husband's fidelity, both emotional and physical. Because do you know what your husband is saying to you when he says that he would like to pretend that Reese Witherspoon is his girlfriend? He's saying that you are not enough.  He's saying that God's design for two people whom He has joined together in marriage (a relationship that He specifically designed to reflect that of His Son with His Church-bride) is not enough. And that's not okay.

Because the fact of the matter is folks, we are ALL wired to live contrary to God's will.  All of us.  Does that mean we just give up?  Give in to our sinful natures in order to "create less avenues for tension"??  Gees, of course not!  Being a follower of Christ is hard work! It's a daily struggle that only His grace gets us through, but like anything else, the more we practice, the easier it gets.  The more a man submits his natural lustful desires to Christ, the more he practices keeping a clean heart and being grateful to and for the wife God has given him, the easier it will be for him to turn his eyes and his heart away from any woman, real or imaginary, who might tempt him.  And sisters? You are doing him no favors by sheepishly giving him permission to gallivant through a fantasy world with a supermodel on each arm.  Because you are in fact giving him permission to sin against you and against his Creator.  There are powerful words in the Scripture about lust, the sanctity of marriage, and how your husband is to treat you, and laying in bed next to you at night and fantasizing about "dating" celebrities is not part of His plan .  

Brothers and sisters, the marriage union is perhaps the most beautiful earthly thing God has designed for us, and it takes two avid partners, ardently throwing their whole selves into it, for it to weather the storms of this broken world and blossom into the personally fulfilling and God-honoring institution it is designed to be.  It must be purposefully, jealously, fiercely guarded.  Do NOT let the Enemy in, whether he be in the form of a hot neighbor, an ex-girlfriend, general discontent, or an imaginary Reese Witherspoon.   Don't rob yourselves of God's perfect design for your marriage by playing worldly games, because a happy, healthy, God-centered marriage is more absolutely beautiful and fulfilling than any imaginary tryst could ever be. 

Because It Needs To Be Said: A Pointed Response to Feed Your Strength

Because It Needs To Be Said, pt. 1
by David

We follow a number of blogs.  We read most just because it is interesting to see what people are thinking, (no matter how goofy or outrageous) and go on to the next, based on the Great Apostle's pattern and instruction ( ICorinthians 5:12) of leaving all those outside the professing Church to God to judge.  But those who profess Christianity we are responsible to deal with.  For example, I read a blog by a guy who is a very thoughtful hedonist.  He thinks the highest good for people is to experience pleasure.  The thinking of most Americans is thoroughly hedonistic, of course, but they don't know it.  This man, however, understands precisely what he believes, and he makes a good argument for the continued development of opioid psychotropic drugs, so people could just feel good all the time, without all the unpleasant side effects of the drugs now available.  I disagree, but he's not my problem.

I'm saying the Church is commanded to discipline itself.  This idea is obvious and inarguable throughout the New Testament Scriptures.  So if people (particularly teachers) who call themselves Christians live a lifestyle which the Bible says is completely unacceptable in the Church, or if they teach ideas obviously and dangerously wrong, that is my problem.  Yours, too, Brothers and Sisters, whether or not you have the courage to accept the responsibility. 

One of the blogs we follow, mainly because the blogger is known to us, so it is of particular interest, is FEED YOUR STRENGTH.  I would point your attention to the August 10 edition.  Usually the subject of the blog  is self-help or love yourself, and such.  But the blogger, while identifying herself as an Evangelical Christian (at another time a "recovering Evangelical")  is enthralled with the teachings of progressive, postmodern, heretical  Christian teachers, notably Richard Rohr and Rob Bell, and regularly passes along their thinking for her readers. 

A favorite theme in FEED YOUR STRENGTH is that it is wrong for any of us as God's people to disapprove or make a judgment regarding the beliefs or behaviors of another person.  This position is wrong-headed and not Biblical on its face (please review our earlier writing on this subject), and now FEED YOUR STRENGTH  is helping us make our point by carrying the argument to ridiculous extremes.  Out of the Biblical record of David and Bathsheba and subsequent events she draws the conclusion that since God can make beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3),  one must never disapprove of another's behavior.  Let's think about that. . . and make some current comparisons. 

Firstly, a personal story comes to mind which is not so current.  I was once called to a pastoral position in a church which had been devastated by the behavior of the former pastor.   The man had used his position of influence over the church families to find victims for his pedophilia.  In fact, the remaining group was so traumatized they swore to one another  to keep it all a secret, and I didn't even know what I was getting into.  Now, when the story did come to light, what should my counsel have been to those families of young, injured boys?  Now, now, we musn't disapprove? 

Today, on a larger scale, human trafficking for the sex trades is a business estimated at 9.5 billion dollars in the USA alone, victimizing an estimated 300,000 children.  Many professing Christians are involved in this tragedy.  Should we disapprove, approve or stand aloof? 

Otherwise.  During 2010, about 1.6 million children ages 0 to 11 and 1.2 million children ages 12 to 17 lived in a household in which at least one member age 12 or older was the victim of violent crime during the year.   Approve, disapprove or stand aloof?

I'm sitting a the keyboard this morning shaking my head at the absurdity of the position I'm arguing against.  At the evil of it.  Also a little in awe at how brilliantly insidious the Enemy is. 

Let me draw your attention all the way back to David and Bathsheba.  Let's pick up the story in 2 Samuel 12.  In response to David's sinful behavior, did God approve, disapprove or stand aloof?  In fact He sent His prophet Nathan to deliver one of the most intense judgments in recorded history.  Recorded for US.We are asked in FEED YOUR STRENGTH to buy the twisted logic that since God does indeed bring beauty out of ashes for his people, therefore we should not disapprove of evil.  I disagree with that teaching, and in doing so I stand firmly in the spirit of the Word of God, and with the clear revelation everywhere in the Book.

Since most of you reading these words have grown up in the American postmodern, postChristian culture, where nothing is considered absolutely wrong or absolutely right, where the idea that we must never judge the morality of anything sounds okay, I feel I must labor to simplify and clarify what I am trying to tell you.  Let's try some questions. 

In your group which calls itself Christian, which of the following is disapproved?   abortion?  casual sex?  robbing the minimart?  beating up gays?  sleeping with your neighbor's wife?  abandoning your family for another, more desirable mate?  It would seem that, according to the logic espoused by FEED YOUR STRENGTH,  none of these practices should be disapproved.

According to God and His Revelation (the Bible), all these practices, common and considered cool in American pop culture, ARE disapproved and condemned.  When a Christian sister or brother blunders into one of these practices, it is our responsibility to pull him out.


Because It Needs To Be Said, pt. 2
 by Libby

My life is very full; i have a two-month old and an almost-3-year-old, both rather high maintenance, and I really have time for little else. Even now the little one clings to my chest like a spider monkey while i try to type around him on a tiny laptop balanced on a Boppi, and I can smell that the the big one needs a diaper change, and all the diapers are still in the washing machine. But I feel strongly that yesterday's FEED YOUR STRENGTH needs to be answered, as it is running in the same vein as her August 10th post, and is dangerously misleading.

Let's start with a little background. When Paul sat down to pen the letters that are included in the Bible today, he wasn't sitting down with the intent to "write the Bible." He was writing to people in local churches, during a certain time and who were dealing with certain issues. He was writing to exhort and encourage individuals and church bodies that needed specific exhortation and encouragement. Thus, it is important to take into account the historical context of each letter and consider to whom Paul was writing and what issues they may have been struggling with at the time.

And here's another thing: when someone uses a few verses from a chapter to try to make a point, it is our responsibility to crack open the Bible and read the verses preceding and succeeding, probably just read the whole chapter, and ideally read the whole book. Because there are plenty of verses that, when taken out of context, can be used to say pretty much anything one might want them to say.

So let's briefly examine Romans 14, and see if we can't suss out where Paul was coming from and what he meant when he exhorted the Romans not to judge each other.

Since its inception, the Mosaic Law was the Jewish people's only connection to God. They had to follow rules upon rules in order to have any hope of salvation, they studied and memorized and rigidly lived by the Torah, and disobedience was unthinkable. Jesus' life, death, and resurrection changed everything. Everything. And this was extremely difficult for your average Jew to accept. We're talking about trying to cast aside thousands of years of indoctrination, and their entire way of life. And as time passed, some believers were able to throw off the old law and live easily in the new freedom that Christ's blood afforded them, and others not so much. Some really struggled with things like working on the Sabbath or eating meat that, under the old law, would be considered unclean. Understandable, I'd say.

So in Roman church at this time, this was causing some strife. Christians were being uppity and judgmental with each other about these things; and the truth of it is, these things were pretty much inconsequential. The Roman Christians were hurting each other and causing divisions over things that didn't matter anymore. Here Paul tells them (and us) that their hearts' intent and their desire to honor and glorify God are what really matter, and that they shouldn't be hateful and judgmental about things that hold no import in the Kingdom of God.

So to put this idea into a more current context, consider this: any number of Believers come out of a tradition that tells them that worship is best achieved through singing hymns, and contemporary worship music is lacivious and unholy. And on the other side are the Believers who say that hymns are archaic and boring, and contemporary worship music is more relevant and therefore more conducive for effective worship for Christians of today. And both sides feel very strongly about this, going so far as to condemn fellow Believers that don't see things they way that they do. But what Paul is basically saying here is, "It's all good, don't let this kind of thing tear you guys apart." And he's also saying that if contemporary music makes you feel lacivious and unholy, by all means don't listen to it! But don't condemn those who worship best when they can jump and dance and wave their hands in the air. Because it's all good if your heart is clean and God is glorified.

In verse 14, Paul says. "Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." He is referrring to the inconsequential issues.  But do you hear what he is NOT saying? He is NOT saying, "Whoever gets drunk at the bar every weekend does so for the Lord." He is NOT saying, "Whoever has sex with someone he or she is not married to does so to the Lord." He is not saying that each Believer has carte blanche and we are never ever to speak into their lives. In fact there are numerous places in his writings where he says the exact opposite!

Friends, this post-modern thinking, this subversive idea that, as Believers, we can't really know the truth, and make any deiscernments based on that truth, is the most dangerous thing facing the Church today. It is the crafty and evil work of the enemy, convincing an entire generation of Christians that we can't really know the truth, that right and wrong are subjective, and it's never our place to exhort or admonish other Believers. Because what it has created is an entire generation of Christians who Believe that pretty how much however they are living is okay because they are on their own journey and travelling at their own pace and God is totally chill with that. And if you don't know what the dangerous problem with this thinking is, we here at Dwell In Us Richly have been blogging on it for months. Because it's insidious and terrifying, and it's tearing down Christ's precious Bride from the inside out.

Friends, the only remedy for the spiritual sickness that has beset the Church is getting into the Bible and studying God's revealed words for ourselves. Because it's easy for someone with an agenda to cherry-pick a verse or passage and twist it to mean what they want. And it's easy for us to read or listen to what they're preaching and say, "Hm. I guess that sounds true enough,' and walk away thinking we know what's up.I often have people tell me, "Christianity is not all about the Bible, it's all about  relationship with God." And this is true to a point, but think of it this way. Your relationship with God is like a big mansion full of rooms and cabinets and drawers, but most of them are locked. The Bible is the master key to open them. Now, if you want to, you can sort of guess or ponder or wait for a revelation to tell you what's in all these rooms and cabinets and drawers, or you could listen to other people tell you what they think is in them. Or you could just stick that key in all those locks and discover and study and marvel at what's inside for yourself. And until you do, you're just fooling yourself, robbing yourself of the fullness and richness that's waiting for you, and possibly leading others astray in your wake.

God revealed His Word to us for a reason. It is not just a book or a tool, it's an essential part of our faith.

And like always, I invite conversation.  I know for some of you this is quite personal, but the truth must be sought.  It must be defended.  It must.                                                                    

Jesus Died To Save Us From Post-Modernism

We're Baaaaaack!

It has been a good, good month for the Heisler/Nitz clan.  The Lord has given us a big bruiser of a baby boy, Jack Heisler.  And the Lord is opening and clarifying new life opportunities for us.  I'm wearing a big, silly smile as I write this. . .

But we have some unfinished Kingdom of God business here yet.  Nobody ever  does  this  when a writer asks them to, but I ask that you take the few minutes required to reread the May-June posts.  I'm continuing that theme.

It is my habit to wind up my days with two or three hours of reading: all kinds of stuff.  Just finished a couple books by one of the contributors to the Jesus Seminar, a radically liberal group of teachers who worked very publicly in the 1980s and 90s to discredit the New Testament Scriptures.   One example.  A recurring theme in the book is the argument that the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection are not at all to be understood as historical.  But parabolic.  That is to say, they are just stories, and should not be understood to have anything to do with time/space history.   That is such an insidious argument!  Used to be that unbelieving liberal teachers would just come right out and admit they don't really believe in anything. . . the sneak factor has now been introduced so that liberal teachers can still claim to believe the Bible.  But when you stop and examine the arguments, you realize they are just playing with Bible words;  they still don't really believe in anything.   Pertinent to our blog theme, on the back of the volume is just one big, long plug.  That support comes from Brian McLaren, a most vocal and prolific writer for "progressive Christianity."  Mr. McLaren has powerfully influenced the "emergent  church" teachers we have seen so much of over the last six or seven years.  I have in mind particularly Rob Bell and Tony Jones, both obviously bright, charismatic leaders;  but they have come unmoored from the Truth, and continue to drift further and further into the murky waters of postmodern thinking. 

The assumed freedom to play so fast and loose with the revealed Scriptures is the result of these teachers' roots in postmodern philosophy.  One tenet of Postmodernism, the way of thinking of the world that surrounds us, is that one cannot know anything with certainty.  So Postmodern Christian teachers customarily suggest maybe this/maybe that. . . This is the way it is, or is it? . . So the teachers named above feel free to reinvent God as they want Him to be.  Reinvent the Kingdom of God as they want it to be.  Redefine eschatology (teaching in the Bible about the end of things) in terms they find palatable.  Decide for themselves what paragraphs in the Bible they like and which just cannot be taken seriously.

If we stand back and view our American culture, we see a huge market of poorly taught, nominal Christians.  Millions upon millions of people who have only fuzzy notions of who God has revealed Himself to be, and precious little personal experience with the Word of God.  People whose take on the Christian faith has been shaped by Hollywood.  These masses who have family and cultural roots in the Faith, and would still prefer to consider themselves spiritual, or Christian,  are now offered a "new kind of faith" which is so much cooler, which is not offensive to anyone (no "offence of the cross").  And this new faith just fits so well with American culture. 

These teachers are indeed populists;  they like to sell books and have influence, so are famously silent on many issues on which the Church should speak for God and His creation order: abortion, gender definition, sexual boundaries.  And they are getting more vocal on two historically and clearly heretical teachings: universalism (God will save everybody some day;  there is no hell); and denial of the substitutionary atonement (Jesus died by design to pay the penalty of sin once for all for God's people). 

Our enemy's (Satan) strategy here is plain to see.  At issue is not whether preachers should wear special collars, or whether gospel songs written by Fanny Crosby in the 1940s are more pleasing to God than the praise music of Hillsong United.  The matters above lie at the very heart, the very core of God's eternal plan for His creation.  I say He has revealed what He wants us to know and believe about all these matters.  The issue is simply whether we believe or disbelieve.  God is God.

I heard a man on the radio the other day telling his life story.  From a formally religious family, Yale-educated and a thoroughly convinced atheist at age 30, when he began a friendship with a coworker who talked to him about Jesus and the Bible.  He said he went to sleep one night pondering the subject, and woke up in the morning entirely believing Jesus was Who He said He was.  Experienced a radical transformation in every area of his life.  The night before he would accurately have been described as a Postmodern Atheist.  The next morning he was a Christian Theist.  ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WORLD VIEWS. 

I relate this story for you (and I suspect something similar has been the experience of many of you) to remind you that what Jesus wants to save you from is not only the final punishment for your sin, but from all the false beliefs of your old life (the philosophies of the world, Paul called them).  He calls you to KNOW Him, to KNOW you have eternal life.  In the Scriptures we can KNOW a great deal about God and His world, our place here, and the future.

That's why I title this blog "Jesus died to save you from Postmodernism."

-David Nitz

"Radical Love" v. Agape

This is my metaphor, so let me do this and try to take my meaning.  Of course the metaphor  will fail in some ways. . .  I think Agape (the Love of God) is like pure, organic, non-gmo, unrefined cane sugar.  I think the radical love, or "loving on" so touted by the Progressive Christian leaders is like a glob of saccharine, aspartame, sucralose and acesululfame-K.  The real stuff that grows out of the ground leads to Life and health;  the synthetic stuff leads to liver disease, cancers, IBS, seizure disorders, nausea, kidney disfunction, etc. 

Libby laid out for us the basics of Agape a couple weeks ago.  It is that aspect of God's character which is poured out as He wills, to meet the needs of it's objects.  As God's people experience it, Agape always involves obedience to God, and so can never be authentic if it violates God's revealed truth.  So it is purer, clearer,  deeper, and more powerful than any counterfeit. 

American pop-Christian culture is awash in messages about a different kind of love.  Writers prattle about "loving on" people without regard for a moral context.  Teachers talk of "loving on" people without regard for the big, eternal overview which always dominated the thinking of  Jesus and his Apostles.

I saw a History Channel program a while ago about a big, interstate highway  bridge that collapsed out West somewhere, letting a lot of vehicles plunge into the river.  A church group might have set up a free coffee stand a half-mile up the road leading to the bridge,  to show compassion to the thirsty, weary travelers.  They would be "loving on" them.  But if they didn't warn them clearly about the bridge, have they shown God's love to them?  No.  But on Sunday they can gloat "We gave out 1800 coffees!"

The consistent message of Jesus and the apostles He trained is to do good to all men, particularly with a clear eye open to the results that will be realized in the unseen Kingdom of God to come (Heaven).  This theme jumps out at you everywhere in Jesus' parables.   Paul's thinking was so renewed that he could say that his knowing of people was not by fleshy qualities, but by how they were related to God.

Not coincidentally, one of Satan's favorite ploys is to suck people into groups where they will be, via almost overwhelming warmth and compassion, made to feel they belong and are cared for.  Cults and false religions have successfully used counterfeits of God's love to seduce people, multiply and influence.   

So as you been challenged so often in this blog, read the Bible.  Test all teachings against the revealed Word of God.  The love someone is showing you may feel good;  it may be sweet;   but at the same time it may be manipulative, self-serving and a counterfeit of God's love. 

-guest post by David Nitz

What's In Your Head

You have beliefs in your head that you live by.  Most people have no idea where these beliefs came from, and precious few have any idea that these ideas they live by have roots in philosophy.  Just lost most of you!  No, please stick with me.  I want to tell you some very important things.

People believe and live by the craziest ideas.  Saw a real-life story on TV last week about a family who lost a teen daughter to homicide.  At the graveside the father saw a Cardinal  (song bird) and chose to believe that his departed daughter somehow inhabited that animal,  and he was comforted.  OK.  A couple weeks ago a nice lady was at our house to transact a little business with my wife.  As they shared how they enjoyed collecting,  this woman proceeded  to tell us her life story.  She had had a near-death experience, and decided that from that point on she would get the antiques stuff she wanted, and "let nobody stand in my way."  She was quite intense and serious.   I was reading a well-known Progressive Christian author this week who was laboring to make the point that Jesus never commanded anybody to do anything, He just "invited" them. . .  Please.  That idea is just plain silly.  Ideas like that can only be floated in a population that doesn't read what Jesus really taught (the Bible).  We could go on with this forever, because the world is full of wrong ideas. 

BUT!  And listen to this carefully.  (This is the kind of moment when, if you were a little kid, I would grab you  by your shoulders and say "Look at my eyes, and listen to me!")  Into this world of zillions of wrong ideas, God has revealed some Truth.  Some things that are absolutely and always True.  Ideas we can plant our feet on.  Sink our teeth into.  That never change.  As Christian philosopher Francis Shaeffer said, "God is there and He is not silent."

Jesus taught about what He called being "born again into the kingdom of God."  (John 3:3)  

So that happens to you.  Here you are, standing on this earth, and God had done a big work of grace in you, and you know you will never be the same.  He begins to change what you believe about virtually everything (2Cor. 5:17).  You begin to understand Truths.  And the more you understand Truth, the more you recognize the falsehoods all around you in the world.  This is normal for the believer in Jesus.  In fact, God calls us to purposely cooperate in this process of renewing our minds (Rom. 12:2). 

To someone who has thought a lot about this subject, any and all of those old beliefs you held could be traced back to some wrong system of thought.  These systems have names.  Much of the ideas in the minds of people around you are rooted in hedonism, humanism, materialism (not the love of money, but philosophical materialism), transcendentalism, and utilitarianism.  Now, few people can even state what they believe, much less know how those beliefs fit in to any system.  However, if you are a believer in Jesus, and serious about your faith (let me throw in that if you are not serious about it, don't be feeling comfortable about your relationship to God), you need to be serious also about knowing truths, and being able to discern what is true, and recognize what is false. 

Now here is the point I have been aiming at.  The most dangerous falsehoods, the most ingenious counterfeit ideas threatening our generation, are coming out of the philosophical system called Postmodernism.  You and I need to know it when we see it.  And we must be willing to call it what it is.  In Christendom it is called Progressive Christianity.  It is, simply, unbelief.

Next time I get a chance to write for Libby, I hope to explain further just what beliefs I am concerned with: that is, how Postmodernism has yielded the pet teachings of Progressive Christianity.  Also, just what teachers are we talking about?

Guest post by David Nitz

So Let's Define This "Love" Thing.

Up until fairly recently, I was pretty closely involved in local church that I liked pretty well.  As time passed I began to suspect that I had issues with some of their ideology, but I hung on because I was very deeply invested in one of their small groups, a group aimed specifically at mothers.  This particular church had a bit of an odd small group set-up, the individual groups are done in "semesters" of about 4 months, and at the end of those 4 months, all the small groups take a break and people are invited to sign up for the next round, or semester.  The group I was involved in had a core group of 5 or 6 moms that signed up each semester, and then a smattering of others who came and went over the course of 2 or 3 years.  I invested myself more deeply into that moms' group than I had ever invested in any other group or relationship, outside of my marriage, and the women in it I considered true friends and sisters, and I was more truly vulnerable with them that I have ever been with anyone in my life.  We pushed each other, challenged each other, held each accountable, wept together, prayed ardently for each other, and when the "semesters" would end, we would continue to meet together "unsanctioned," because we were invested in each other, we loved each other, and  we shared fellowship on a level that is sorely missing from today's Church.  It was real.  And I miss it desperately.  With every fiber of my being I miss it.

My relationship with that group slowly started to unravel as my issues with the larger group's ideology started to become more pressing than I could ignore, and I started to raise questions in the smaller group setting.  And on one very specific occasion, I got into a (perfectly civil, though rather tense) disagreement with one of the group's leaders about the encouragement/admonishment precept, and the definition of Biblical love.

I had recently had a not-quite-as-civil FB debate with someone about the idea of Biblical hate (Romans 12:9), and I was sharing with the group where I was struggling with self-doubt, specifically in the area of having a gentle spirit (1 Peter 3:3-4).  I have of course done a lot more research and hard study on this idea since then, but at the time it was a fresh and painful struggle.   This leader suggested that I "fast love," for 40 days, and by this I /believe/ she was saying to only "love" people for 40 days.  But as I considered admonishing to be one way to truly love other Believers,  I said: "Yes, but (as this debate had been going on for some minutes by this time), what do you mean when you say 'love?'" and she replied, "Radical acceptance."  At this point the other leader politely interrupted us and steered the conversation in another direction, as it was decidedly tense, and causing tension, even when that tension is the bi-product of an ardent pursuit of truth,  is generally frowned upon.  But that was the moment when I knew that I was probably going to lose the rich and rewarding and hard-fought, hard-won relationship with this small group of believing women that I so cherished. A meeting with these same women leaders some months later to discuss some of my issues led to my family choosing to finally leave the church, and while my heart was still fully vested in that moms' group, it was made clear that continuing to participate wasn't going to be an option.  And in the end, I lost almost every relationship I had built during my time with that group.  And all over this crazy little thing called love.

Because the thing is, friends, it really IS all about love. The problem is, we've allowed the climate of our culture and the pursuit of cultural relevance to diminish, dilute, and cloud what the Bible is saying, what God's intent for us is, when He uses the word "love." I hear a LOT about "loving on" people and the local community being the highest good, which as far as I can tell means being very pleasant and inviting and friendly and accepting and throwing large social events, but as I was researching for this blog, it became more and more apparent that that is not at all what Jesus was talking about when He used the word love.  So .....if it really is all about love, it seems paramount that we effectively define the term.

Now, I am by no means a scholar, but I was raised by one, and I went to a Christian college where I picked up a little knowledge here and there.  I took a particularly tough course my junior year called Bible Study Methods, and while it it made me crazy and ate up all my evenings and weekends and cost me sleep, it did give me the basic tools to do some deeper digging when I find that I want to more fully understand a Biblical passage or idea.  So bear with me for a second, while we get scholarly.

There are 4 different types of love in the Greek language, and, extremely simplified, they are romantic/sensual love (eros), brotherly love (philia), familial love (storge), and divine love (agape). Generally speaking, there's not a lot of debate or confusion about the first three, so we are going to focus on the fourth, Agape.
Vine's Expository Dictionary tells us this:

"Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all (Romans 15:2) and works no ill to any (Romans 13:8-10); love seeks opportunity to do good to all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6:10,  1 Cor. 13,  Colossians 3:12,  Colossians 3:14). Christian love has God for its primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments (John 14:15, John 14:21, John 14:23; John 15:10; 1 John 2:5; 1 John 5:3; 2 John 1:6). Self-will, that is, self-pleasing, is the negation of love to God."

So there are a few ideas here that I want to focus on. First, agape love is entirely counterintuitive to humans, it's sacrificial, selfless, and unconditional; it's bestowed upon another with complete disregard to the merit or worth of that person. By that I mean, it has nothing to do with feelings, you don't love someone because he is lovable or deserves love or has any way made himself worthy of that love.  You  love him because you choose to love him. It's a deliberate choice that has nothing to do with the worthiness or "lovability" of the loved.  And this sort of love cannot be achieved without knowing Jesus.  It is a divine love that emanates directly from His nature and cannot be experienced or facilitated in any way other than through a relationship with the Living God.  

Second, the Bible makes it excruciatingly clear that the lynchpin of this divine love is obedience. I mean, really, there's no way for it to made any clearer, and it comes straight out of the mouth of walking, talking Jesus at least four times in the NT. In John 14:15, He says, “If you love me, keep my commands," and goes on to repeat that basic idea several more times.  He makes it VERY clear, there's no way around it: obedience = love.You might want to sit with that one for awhile before we move on. 


Third, in order to keep His commands, we have to know them!!  It seems that there should be a Duh Factor here, but there are so many people that believe that a relationship with Jesus is mostly a spiritual experience, and almost entirely ignore the practical application side of it.  There is, indeed, a moment of spiritual conversion, the moment that the Spirit descends on and indwells a person, and that person becomes a new creation.  And it's at moment that we truly experience God's love  for the first time.  But then what comes after that?  Now it's our turn, to follow the greatest commandments: love God and love one another (Matthew 22:36-40).  And since we know that love of God = obedience to God, the next step is to learn the basic standards of living that God calls His people to adhere to, ie: His commands.  Lucky for us, our loving God had pretty much everything we need to know written down and compiled into a single volume for us, easily accessible to most of us and ready to be studied at any time.  All we have to do is take the time and make it a priority.  The fact of the matter is, we CANNOT effectively love God or each other if we don't prioritize studying His Word.  Period.

Fourth, one of the reasons that love equals obedience is simply that God deserves our obedience; He is owed complete and unquestioning conformity to His will and implicit submission to His lordship in our lives. But there's also a practical side to it: His commands have everything to do with how we should live and how we should treat each other.  If we are stealing, we are hurting whoever we steal from.  If we are sleeping around, we are taking what doesn't belong to us and defiling the bodies of others. Cheating, slandering, lying,  - all of these things God tells us NOT to do, and all of these things hurt our neighbors. It's all very basic: practically applying God's commands to our lives (ie: obeying) causes us to treat others with true divine love by default.

Fifth, nowhere in the Bible or in my other studies have I been able to find a time when agape love is synonymous with radical acceptance.  In fact, by its very nature, the "radical acceptance" paradigm seems to invite complacency and self-will.  I myself feel like it would be immensely easier for me to get stuck in the quagmire of my own sin if I knew that the people around me were far more likely to pat me on the shoulder and say, "Everyone struggles, we love you regardless, take your time on your journey," than, "Whoa hold up, you are messing up bad here we love you too much to just let it go."  Admonishment IS indeed a tool to be used to more effectively love other! I can't find anywhere in my study that tells us to "radically accept" other believers who are willfully sinning, but I can find a dozen places where it says to admonish them and hold them accountable.  Because radically accepting their sin is just allowing them to travel a path of self-destruction outside of God's will, and therefore outside of His love, wherein admonishing them to obey God's commands shows them true love and in turn pushes them to better love God and others.  Round and round it goes!!

This topic is huge, I probably should've called  this "Part 1," and not tried to tackle it all in one day.  There is no way I have done it justice today, and no way that I have covered or adequately defined every aspect of divine love, but I have learned the basics of what I was trying to learn and shared what I was hoping to share, I think.  I would recommend reading everything that Vine's has to say about agape, and I also found these two links (this one defining the terminology of 1 Corinthians 13, and this one about admonishing one another in love) to be very insightful.  And as always, I encourage you to click on all the Bible links and get into the Word for yourselves, and if you have any questions, comments, or disagreements, please do leave a comment!  There's nothing I want to see more that truth ardently pursued and Christ's mind revealed, and I will always do everything I can to facilitate that.