Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

The Lord’s Feasts

Passover

According to the Hebrew calendar, this year’s Passover celebration (Pesach) begins at sundown on April 21- and ends at sundown on April 22. This is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread April 22-29 and culminates with the Feast of First Fruits April 27-28. In contrast, Easter is on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

How did we get here?

After the 2nd century, Christianity sought to divorce itself from Judaism. The church became “catholic”, which means “universal”. This was in direct contradiction to God’s plan and accompanying warning in Romans 11. 

do not be arrogant toward the branches (Judaism). If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Rom 11:18

How quickly they forgot that Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi who came to His own. That His own rejected Him at the time John 1:11-13 did not change His identity. Neither did it alter God’s plan to redeem all of mankind through His chosen people.

In the course of rejecting Judaism, God’s original sacred Hebrew calendar was changed from a Lunar to a Solar one. This paved the way to changing the Sabbath from the last day that we call Saturday to the first day that we call Sunday. That seems a bit arrogant toward the branches. Passover was renamed “Good Friday” and “First Fruits” became Easter. The discrepancy created by the calendar change is the reason why Easter falls more than three weeks before the true Passover this year. If that weren’t arrogant enough, they added pagan influences such as Easter (fertility) eggs and “Easter Bunnies” and called or at least implied them to be Holy.  Many of these changes took place at the First General Council of the Church held at Nicea in 325 AD.  Why you ask? Part of the answer is found in the belief that God had rejected the Jewish people because they rejected Jesus as their Messiah and then demanded He be crucified. The error continues today as supersessionism or replacement theology that regards the gentile church as God’s replacement for Israel.  

Does it matter?

After all didn’t Jesus dismiss the Pharisees who questioned the legality of His actions on the Sabbath that,

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28

Didn’t Paul rebuke the Galatians for keeping the Feasts?

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Gal 4:9-11

Unfortunately, these arguments miss the point. Having fulfilled the law, Jesus proclaimed the Sabbath as our privilege not a legal requirement for our righteousness. The actual context of Paul’s rebuke of the Galatians in chapter four is a continuation from the previous chapter. 

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Gal 3:1-3

Both Jesus and Paul bring correction to the error of trying to fulfill the law unto righteousness via the flesh. Apart from giving our lives to Jesus, nothing we do makes us righteous. In reality, Paul told the Corinthians to celebrate the Feasts but exhorted them to do so correctly.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor 5:8

Hence we are not legally mandated to keep the Sabbath and the Feasts. 

We get to!

There are seven feasts in total. Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. Jesus has fulfilled the first four. Incidentally, the word “fulfilled” does not mean “replaced” or “done away with” as so many assume. Rather “fulfilled” means “to give the correct interpretation”. God often presents truth in the form of a picture. For example, baptism is a public pictorial demonstration of an inner decision, death, and rebirth. We are brought under the water as a symbol of our death and then raised as a new creation. Similarly, The Lord’s Feasts are a pictorial blueprint of God’s ultimate plan for the redemption of His entire creation from the Fall in Genesis 3. 

Origins

You will notice that I did not use the term The Jewish Feasts. This is important because God first proclaimed His Feasts in Genesis 1. As in the case of many verses, the true meaning is distorted by the English translation.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, Gen 1:14

It is worthy to note that, the NIV omits the word seasons entirely. Season is mow`ed in Hebrew and means an appointed place, appointed time, sacred season, set feast, appointed season, appointed meeting.

God created lights in the expanse of the heavens (the stars and planets) to established His calendar that included the appointed times when He would meet with His people in spirit and eventually in person.

Taken as a whole they are an invitation to meet with God and understand the scheduled outline for His entire redemptive plan. What makes this even more poignant is that

God established His Feasts as His redemptive calendar on the fourth day before He created Man!

…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,.for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Eph 1:4-10

We have further confirmation in Leviticus 23 where the Lord gives Moses specific instructions for celebrating all His feasts.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. Lev 22:1-2

Once again, feasts are mow`ed. They are proclaimed as holy convocations. Convocation is miqra’ a dress rehearsal. God gave Moses a blueprint of His plan that the Jews rehearsed for 1500 years and continue to rehearse today.

Passover was the prophetic declaration of Jesus’s crucifixion.

This is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread where He took away the sin of the world then the Feast of First Fruits which was His resurrection. Fifty days later Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2. Now the feasts of Trumpets, (Jesus’ return) Atonement, (His Judgment) and Tabernacles (His Rest) remain to be fulfilled by Jesus.

We will be covering Jesus depicted in Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits over the next several weeks. Once again, keep in mind that understanding the Lord’s Feasts is not a religious/ legalistic practice. Rather they broaden our view of God’s total plan. They increase our faith as we see Jesus first presented pictorially in the Feasts and then later fulfilled by Him in person. They build our hope in the blessed hope. Titus 2:11-14  Having seen God’s blueprint for redemption partially fulfilled we have even more assurance that He will complete what He started. Isaiah 55:8-11 The sheer complexity and mathematical impossibility of mere chance or coincidence being the cause of it all only increase our reverence and awe of His omniscience and His perfect, eternal sovereign will.

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Tennessee

Abidinary

One who abides in the vine.

Someone recently asked us what “Abidinaries” means. It’s the name I assigned our website after writing Peeling the Onion and Learning to Abide from the mountains of Honduras. Our time on the foreign mission field was an ever-deepening death to ourselves and consecration to the Lord as we learned to wait and abide in Jesus. John 15:1-17 While we definitely helped others overseas, God’s true purpose in sending us was to teach us to abide. Hence the name Gray Hope Missionaries became

Gray Hope Abidinaries.

“Gray Hope” is a play on words. The name Gray means hope. Gray is the space between black and white, darkness and light. Hope occupies the space between believing and manifestation. We need all the hope we can get.

After nearly four years at a children’s home in Comayagua Honduras, God placed us deep in the mountains at the proverbial entrance of the Leviticus 8:35 tent to wait so that what He was birthing in us would not die. I’ve written about our wilderness experience in, What Will You Bring? I figure some may be tired of hearing it so I’m not going to rehash it all now. The relevant point here is that today we must contend for quiet time. I’d be lying if I said we don’t miss the simplicity and stillness of our wilderness.

One task set before us today has been to carry the lessons and stillness of the wilderness into the chaos. Today I work as a Shift Supervisor at Holston Home for Children. I serve 10-12 staff. Crisis management for sixty kids is my primary function. For the most part that means dealing with runaways, suicidal/homicidal ideation, self-harm, kids who break things and throw things, kids who fight staff or each other and need to be restrained. On quiet days I wash dishes. I liken my job to loving Sid from Toy Story 1.  Suffice it to say, I’ve learned more about the Father’s heart here than any other time or place in my life.

It is within the chaos of traumatized, delinquent, and very broken youth that the mission field exists. I love my job. Frankly, I don’t understand why more genuine Christ followers aren’t rushing to fill the seemingly forever-vacant positions here.

Maybe you will…

For the record, I occasionally document our life circumstances and thoughts in case some great, great, great-grandchild, nephew, or niece wonders about their ancestral roots as I do. In addition, we have friends and former followers while we were in Honduras who may be wondering where we went and what we are doing now.

A Snapshot

I put in a forty-hour work week in three days. The rest of the time Cathy and I are involved with a women’s addiction recovery program, jail ministry, the Bible study that drives this blog, and we counsel married couples. We aren’t licensed professionals. Our primary qualification is the brokenness that God transformed into His blessing.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 2 Cor 1:3-5

We live the abundant life. That abundance is found in

Abididing.

It is the intimate awareness of our littleness that positions us to witness what only God can do. The longer we are in ministry the more we realize that we are simply along for the ride. The only consistent thing for which we can take partial credit is showing up. Prov 28:20 I say “partial” because even the breath in our lungs is a gift from God. It is faithfulness in small things that is itself a gift that frees us from the illusions of worldly success, the oh-so-burdensome need of being seen and heard, the bondage of man-pleasing and the ravenous self that Jesus requires all His disciples to deny. Mat 16:24

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Isaiah 55:8-13

It’s been just over two years since God brought us back to the States. As we have learned, some people thought we left after the landslide in 2020. But we continued our mission for over a year until God moved us. I say this because there is a profound difference between running to a place versus running away from one. We never wanted to return to the USA. We returned because God called us to East Tennessee. March 1st makes exactly two years since we arrived in Greeneville. There’s not a doubt in our minds that we heard God correctly. He has us exactly where He wants us and we love it because we are in His will.

Still, we had a pretty good sense of what lay ahead as we stood by that river in Cerro Azul Honduras. Bits of debris from our house swept away in a landslide exactly one year before lay strewn around us as I wept tears of sadness and joy with my bride. There was sadness because an amazing chapter filled with wonder and adventure beyond our wildest dreams was drawing to a close. We had joy because He was calling us to a new chapter with His American bride for whom He had given us a fresh love and burden. On that day we resolved before God that as messy as things might be, we would not give a platform to offense. We would continue to be faithful in the ministry of reconciliation to which every believer is called 2 Cor 5:11-20 and vowed not to compromise the truth.

Points to Ponder

One thing that is clear about the American bride that hardly anyone wants to discuss is that she is utterly ridden with sin. Quite often people conceal their sins from themselves and others by taking offense at the sins of others.

Ponder that…

One of the things we most appreciate about the populations with whom we work is their transparency. As Cathy puts it, “Their dirty laundry is hung out for everyone to see.” Inmates, addicts, and delinquent children are society’s scapegoats. Those who have had the role of scapegoat imposed upon them are often quite good at spotting a facade. Cages get rattled when they do. Society regards that rattling as rude and insensitive and dishonoring.  Meanwhile, facades usually subconsciously affirm other facades. We call this being polite, loving and honoring. Long story short, loving politeness and honor is one reason why we end up with porn addicts, pedophiles, and narcissists in pulpits because we regard gifting, and popularity as proof of Godliness.

No I will not elaborate. That is Holy Spirit’s job.

At the end of the day, God can work with transparent sin. Hidden sin requires a Heb 12 shaking. That shaking is here. We are in a season marked by the choice between judging ourselves followed by genuine repentance or God’s judgment beginning with exposure and public shame.

Here in the US we see utterly broken believers seeking a platform that will usher them into an illusory “next level”. Stuck in denial of their depravity, they fail to understand that higher in the kingdom means lower in the world. True ministry begins and ends with brokenness, and more likely scorn and rejection instead of the esteem and glory they covet from men. Jesus warned about seeking the esteem of men.

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. Luke 6:26

Unfortunately, many remain completely unaware of their own facade. As one friend recently put it,

“I literally didn’t know I was fake!!”

That one revelation opened the door to some of the most profound healing and transformation by the hand of God that we have had the privilege of witnessing to date.

Here’s the Hook

Many today are offended by any idea or mention of the word judgment. Hence some may find themselves tempted to take offense at my words. However, the season of judgment whereby we are invited to judge ourselves so that we may not be judged 1 Cor 11:31 is an invitation to peel the proverbial onion of self. Whereas peeling the onion initially meant peeling back layers of trauma, offense, selfishness, self-centeredness, and the resulting sin – peeling the onion for us today looks like simple course correction minus the anger, shame, frustration, and tears. It yields freedom, joy, and peace as we witness God orchestrate His perfect eternal will in every moment of every day without our needing to take credit or blame.

Nothing affirms our true identity in Christ like the apprehension of one’s littleness.

Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from an unprecedented distance of approximately 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles).

How minuscule are the giftings, accomplishments, esteem, and offenses of men? Ecc 12

Every believer is called to the ministry of reconciliation that God has given us. 2 Cor 5:11-20 The only way this will happen is if we are first reconciled to God. One proof of this is that we regard no one after the flesh. Facades are always of the flesh and can never be reconciled let alone abide in the vine. John 15:4-11 Hence when counseling individuals and couples, we always impart the wisdom of Captain Kike former Chief of Security at one of the jails in which I was once housed,

“Don’t fake it till you make it. Be real till you heal.”

If you do this and are reconciled to God and those whom you have offended and been offended by,  then you will know the patience, peace, and freedom of not being trapped by offense. You will not regret or be ashamed of the past. Nor will you want to shut the door on it. You will witness God using all that the devil meant for harm for your good and His glory. You will see God’s mercy in your prior suffering. You will recognize that the blessing is in the brokenness and abundance in abiding.

Anyway, that’s what we are up to these days. These are our circumstances and the thoughts we are thinking. Lord willing, we plan to be back to our regular Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible study posts next week.

We love you guys!

Maranatha!

Appalachian Trail
Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Tennessee

Husbands Love Your Wives

Cathy and I have functioned as pastoral counselors in one form or another for almost twenty years. Today we serve Recovering Hearts and married couples at the Rock Church.

There is a divine order or alignment in marriage and families. When that order is out of alignment, marriages have problems.

We frequently hear people say “Marriage is hard”. That may be true. But we are here to say that it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:22-33

The Bible exhorts Husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. Historically, the church has mainly emphasized the submission of wives. There are a multitude of factors that helped distort God’s blueprint for marriage. Suffice it to say that today the words “submit” and “gave up” connote a power struggle instead of God’s intended catalyst for oneness with Him in and through each other. Cathy and I often liken a biblical marriage to a triangle where the closer the husband and wife grow to God the closer they grow to together, and vice versa.

The first order of business in following Jesus is to “deny self” Mat 16:24. We give everything to Jesus and get far more in return. The same principle applies in marriage. So many struggle in their faith because their worldview is framed by “My will be done in Jesus’ name.” Instead of “Thy will be done.” period. Similarly, the root of many if not most problems in marriage is that one or both parties are to some degree, living out of their own expectations rather than surrendering to God’s expectations. Marriage is really hard if one spouse does this. It’s downright miserable when both do it.

While the diagram above assumes the wife as the victim, husbands are victims too. It is worth noting that physical and or emotional neglect is also a form of abuse. One thing is certain, violence left unchecked only grows in severity.  If one or more spouses are engaging in any of the above then the marriage is plagued by domestic violence.

Seek help!

That said, as a husband, you are your wife’s covering. If a gunman crashes through your front door he’s going to have to go through you to get to your wife. That’s a hyperbolic illustration of the true meaning of the husband is the head of the wife. Eph 5:23  A husband’s authority is proportional to his willingness to give himself up. A wife’s obedience to God by submitting to her husband must first be modeled by her husband’s submission to God. In the context of our biblical marriage counseling sessions, the husband confronts his own issues first. “But what if the husband is doing everything right?” you ask.  It doesn’t matter.

Jesus did everything right too.

That’s not a proverbial “get out of jail free card” for the wife. Rather we have seen God work miracles in marriages and children the very moment that both spouses submit to God and step into the alignment He established before the foundations of the world. We don’t begin with the husband’s junk simply because the wife is the weaker vessel. 1 Peter 3:7-10 We begin this way because while the husband can align with God regardless of what His wife does. The same can not be as easily said of the wife who remains uncovered by her husband.

Once again, when a man and woman are joined together in Holy Matrimony it is representative of Christ’s marriage to His bride the church. The wife submits to her husband and the husband gives himself up for his bride. The husband stands in direct submission to God. The wife submits to and through her husband. Eph 5:22-33 This is not a power differential that results in a position of inferiority for the wife. Rather it is one of tremendous honor and a model for the divine alignment established by God. Gen 2:18-25 1 Cor 11:1-3  How wonderful and valuable is the bride for whom the groom would so gladly lay down his life? Unfortunately, many spouses compete with each other. Healthy submission in biblical marriage can be likened to a waltz or couples figure skating and should leave the observer wondering who is submitting to whom. Toes are inevitably stepped on as we learn the marriage dance. The dance only improves over time provided we refuse to be offended and walk in perpetual and unconditional forgiveness.

Once again submission begins with denying self.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Mat 16:24

Deny is aparnéomai – to utterly, disown, abstain, to affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone, to forget one‘s self, and lose sight of one‘s self and one‘s own interests.

That’s counterintuitive in contemporary culture where people compete to have their needs met and to be seen and heard. If this is the primary driver in your life then,

Don’t get married.

Give yourself time to grow up.

Again there is a long history that has resulted in the perversion of the word “submission”. Unfortunately, much of the church, especially the church in the South has deep roots of religious abuse justified by a lopsided interpretation of scriptures like Eph 5:22, Col 3:18, 1 Pet 3:1, etc. Wives submit to their husbands! We can sprinkle Jesus on our skewed interpretations of scripture and resulting abuse all we like. At the end of the day, abuse by any other name is still abuse and an abomination to God. Some of the stories of religious abuse we’ve heard are horrifying.  It’s no wonder that so many married couples in the body of Christ are struggling. Hence it is the responsibility of men in the church to actively bring healing, correction, and a restored covering to Satan’s primary targets, namely the institution of marriage and His bride the church. As men, we begin by applying these principles to ourselves. Do not be fearful.

Do not procrastinate.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord. Prov 18:22

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. Psalm 127: 3-5

To whom much is given, much is required. Luke 12:41-48

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Cor 13:4-7

Anyone paying attention to events taking place in ministries like IHOPKC and FAI to name just a few should see that we are in a time to pluck up, a time to tear down. Ecc 3:2-3 It is a season of judgment.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1 Pet 4:17

Don’t wait for God’s judgment that brings public exposure and humiliation for the abuse of the sin you thought no one else knew about. Don’t wait to heal and correct that which you have put off in the hope that it would miraculously disappear. All wounds heal or they fester.

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 1 Cor 11:31

May we all embrace. Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

MARANATHA

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Like a Roaring Lion

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 

1 Pet 5:8-9

The Christian walk is not our best life now. While material blessings, health, wealth, and happiness with family and friends, etc. do happen, they are incidental to the ultimate purpose and plan of Jesus. Peter’s final exhortation is a reminder that we are engaged in a war. We fix our eyes on the Blessed Hope and continue in spite of circumstances not because of them.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 2:11-14

Peter exhorts us to be sober – to keep watch, calmly, dispassionately, and circumspectly. Because the Devil prowls LIKE a roaring lion. Jesus is the Lion of Judah. The devil tries to usurp our belief in Jesus through deception. Peter tells us to resist him, firm in our faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. The question to which every believer must have an answer is,

How do we resist the devil?

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

The first order of business in any war is to know the Captain of your salvation. Then know your enemy and his plans.

 …He (Devil) was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

Submitting to God means coming into agreement with truth. The devil’s first line of attack is to convince us to believe a lie. Every action is based on what we believe. In Mathew 4 Satan tempted Jesus to doubt His identity as the Son of God. He twisted scripture in an attempt to confuse Jesus’s understanding of God’s will and plan. He appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 John 2:16 and tempted Jesus to usurp the authority of His Father. Jesus rebuked the devil with truth. The only way to defend oneself against lies is to know, believe, and walk in God’s word.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

Rev 12:10 

The next line of attack is accusation the purpose of which is guilt shame and condemnation. While Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. John 16:8 No one who truly knows and is sure of who they are in Christ can successfully be accused. The enemy comes and is just quickly repelled by truth. Accuser is katēgoréō the word from which we get category. Just think of all the myriad ways that society categorizes people and then seeks ways to divide and pit one against the other. In the words of Howard Pitman, “The devil can’t kill us. He can only convince us to kill ourselves.”

People have killed each other over categories of ethnicity, nationality, politics, socioeconomic status, gender, and even church denominations for millennia. Today we manufacture categories at warp speed. God is the author of truth. Satan authors confusion. God has two categories believers and unbelievers. One aligns with truth, the other with lies. Everything else falls in line with one or the other. The error that results in sin and death, begins when people consent to call good evil and evil good. Isaiah 5:20

If satan can’t trick us into blatant sin he will make us obsessed with trying not to sin on our own. It’s a futile battle. Only God gives the power to cease from sin. Rom 6:14-23  The goal of the accuser in the lives of those committed to obeying God’s commandments is to get us so consumed with guilt, shame, and condemnation that we take our eyes off the one who makes us righteous. We step back into the flesh where it is impossible to please God. Before we know it we are back into blatant sin. Rom 8:1-8, Gal 3:1-3 It is a devious albeit absolutely brilliant satanic trap into which so many believers fall. When all is said and done, walking in the flesh can be reduced to the sin of unbelief. That’s all satan needs or desires.

And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

2 Cor 11:14-15

So many are so consumed with watching out for some proverbial cloven hoof, saber-toothed goat-man that they miss the beautiful, kind, sweet-sounding angel of light dancing right under their noses. Perhaps the greatest threat posed to us comes from satan’s ministers who transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. They muster crowds of loyal unwitting idolaters that resemble groupies more than disciples only to have their fraudulence exposed decades later. Too often the fruit of this is deconstruction among their followers or what some are currently calling The Great Dechurching reminiscent of 2 Thess 2:3. Hence the greatest threat the devil poses to sincere Christians today is skewed doctrine that looks wonderful and “sweet”, but ultimately leads to another gospel and becoming accursed. Gal 1:8-9 Accursed means going to hell.

The Chosen

Recently some friends asked us what we thought about the television series The Chosen. We’d heard a lot about it. But we don’t own a TV and have never watched a single episode. Several of our friends love it. A few said it inspired them to dig deeper into their Bibles and read the subject matter covered in a given episode. While my preference would be that everyone takes a sledgehammer to what my dad called “the idiot box”, I figured there are worse things on TV than The Chosen. Even so, being that I aim to be a Noble Berean, I did some research. The following bullet points were compiled by Jon Root on Twitter and taken from this video.

“Here are some quotes in The Chosen that I believe contradict the Bible:

– Chosen’s Jesus says “I am the Law of Moses” which preaches a different gospel & seemingly aligns with 2 Nephi (Book of Mormon) and not The Bible

– Chosen’s Jesus refuses to be worshipped (example of more Mormon theology) & tells a religious leader to follow his heart…

– The Chosen’s Jesus supposedly quotes Luke 5:32, but omits the word repentance and simply says he is “calling sinners”

– Chosen’s Jesus asks Matthew for help with his sermon as if God in the flesh would need any help whatsoever with preaching the Word.

– The Chosen uses modern-day progressive language “Love is Love”

– The show insinuates that Jesus transgressed aka sinned.

The Chosen preaches a different gospel & portrays a different Jesus so it definitely doesn’t “honor the authentic Jesus”. It’s watered down like the He Gets Us campaigns littering our televisions and billboards… Also, “in a behind-the-scenes interview, the show is described as a “multi-lane highway for relationships with Jesus” (for this reason, the show is inclusive of homosexuals, atheists, Catholics, and mystics for their writers, actors, and crew.) The Bible says that narrow is the way leads to life, and broad is the way to destruction.  There is no multi-lane highway to Christ.”

– Virtually every actor portraying a disciple & even Jonathan Roumie (Jesus) is LGBTQ-affirming.

– Multiple actors portraying disciples tell faithful Christians who stand by marriage between one man and one woman & against the Pride flag on display, to leave & not watch The Chosen.

– Jonathan Roumie (Jesus) has platformed & promoted progressive, pro-LGBTQ priests.

– Dallas Jenkins & the show’s official social media account defended a symbol (Pride flag) which is in diabolical opposition to the “authentic Jesus” and His Word

Here are some quotes from Dallas Jenkins.

– “…the people who only want to read the Bible won’t be watching [The Chosen].”

– “Mormons and Christians believe in the same Jesus”

– “Our intentions are different from the Bible’s intentions”

– When speaking to the Pride flag controversy, justifying its display and promotion, “… it’s just a 3-inch pride flag”

– Dallas controls the direction of the show & has allowed LGBTQ to be promoted and is responsible for the different Jesus & gospel presented.

– Dallas Jenkins also said that I, and other Christians who have expressed concern are “what’s wrong with Christianity today.”

Jon Root on Twitter

Of course, no video depiction can be one hundred percent accurate. This is due to the form of media, not the message. All video is shot through the eyes of a person(s), edited by another, and interpreted through the eyes of yet another. In essence, video makes the viewer a co-creator. As a former video producer for ministries, I can say that even the most painstakingly honest videos are deceptive. Still, at the end of the day, the question each of us must answer for ourselves is, how many blatant distortions of truth are acceptable?

I commonly confront children and recovering adults actively engaged in criminal thinking errors e.g. justifying, rationalizing, minimizing, and generalizing their bad decisions. One of my favorite methods is to ask if they know how to bake a cake. Then I ask for a list of ingredients, flour, eggs, sugar, etc. When the group agrees that the list is complete I tell them I have one more special ingredient to add. One teaspoon of a cat crap. “Is that ok?” I ask. Barring the question being posed to a group of thirteen-year-old boys the universal response is always a resounding “NO!”. “Ok, how about a half teaspoon?” “NO!” “A quarter…?” “NO!”. “Ok, then how much cat crap can I put in a cake for you to eat it?”

“NONE!” says everyone.

Herein lies the problem. People’s understanding of spiritual war is on a continuum from “I don’t believe in a devil.” to “Satan is under every rock and around every corner.” Some people think the devil is powerless. Others are so concerned about satan that they miss God entirely. Depending on the situation, the reality is usually somewhere near the middle. Hence genuine spiritual warfare always begins with being a Noble Berean. We “truth check” everything and test everything according to scripture. For those who label this practice as religious, legalistic, or overly intellectual, all I can say is take heed lest you be deceived. Mat 24:4 Quite often what people call “walking in the spirit” is just complacency or even deception in disguise. Mat 16:23 Complacency and deception are the primary cause of death in war.

These are the considerations of one who is sober; watchful, calm, dispassionate, and circumspect – aware of the wiles of the devil. These are the considerations of a Noble Berean.

MARANATHA