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Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

The Depths of Romans 11

God’s Ultimate Plan

Romans 11 is one of the most important eschatological passages in all of scripture. Eschatology is the study of the end times. One’s understanding of scripture, identity, and worldview, along with any impetus toward ministry, is ultimately driven by our view of the end. For example, those holding to a pretribulation rapture view may be provoked to evangelize but they are unlikely to be driven to prepare to endure to the end. Mat 24:13 The expectation is an escape from suffering. Those with a Postmillennial view or what some call Victorious Eschatolgy work frantically to transform society according to some version of The Seven Mountains Mandate in preparation for Jesus’s return. The expectation is increasing influence and prosperity for the Body of Christ. On the other hand, those with a post-tribulation view of the Harpazo, 1 Thess 4:17 will hear the

Call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Rev 13:10

The expectation is that we will endure persecution and suffering. Things will get harder before the perfect comes. One thing is certain. Our view of the end times will become more or less coherent as time goes on.

As Bereans, we endeavor to follow the method of the earliest church fathers like Polycarp who was discipled by John. Hence, we assume the most literal interpretation of scripture leads to truth. We allow scripture to interpret scripture instead of our imagination. We apply the laws of coherence and noncontradiction and assume that Jesus meant exactly what He said in the Olivet Discourse.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mathew 24:29-31

What is the ultimate purpose of the call to endurance and faith? I contend that it is the same purpose given by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-10 and Romans 11.

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 

Romans 11:13-14

Many gentile Christians, whom Paul describes as wild olive branches, errantly view themselves as superior to the cultivated ones (The chosen Jews) because the Jews rejected their savior and demanded His crucifixion. Some believe the church has replaced the Jews. But the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Rom 11:29 Paul makes clear that we Gentiles would never have had the opportunity to be saved were it not for the transgression of His chosen people. Hence we are warned

do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

Romans 11:18

Some Historical Background

The geographical nation of Israel begins In approximately 1250 BC at the end of the 40-year Jewish Exodus from Egypt when Joshua took the nation of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land. Joshua 1-24 At that time it was occupied by Canaanites, the descendants of Cain who murdered Able. Genesis 4 Wars and turmoil continued as the Israelites gradually gained more control over the land. Ezekiel 48 explains that the total area God gave Abraham includes Lebanon, part of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

The nation of Israel has yet to occupy all of it.

The Israelites’ history has been an ongoing and repeated cycle of receiving a blessing from God, followed by disobedience and entitlement, resulting in God’s discipline. God’s discipline produced repentance, which led to restoration, and renewed blessing. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people is not based upon their being better than the rest of the world. Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:1-20 Rather as we are learning in our study of Romans chapters nine through eleven, it is based on the irrevocable calling of God and His purpose of election.

God chose Jacob over Esau

though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls

Romans 9:11

Interestingly, Muslims today refer to Jesus as Esau. At the end of the day we must keep in mind that God does what He does, and chooses whom He chooses based on who He is, not who we are.

Fast forward…

Jesus was born and rejected by a majority of His people, the Jews. He was crucified, and resurrected, thereby conquering sin and death. The Gospel of Salvation was fulfilled. This is the foundation, not the completion of God’s redemptive plan. (See all four Gospels).  Jesus ascends to the Father, the Holy Spirit is given and the Christian church is born. Acts 1-2.

The Origins of Palestine

The name Palestine is derived from Roman Emperor Hadrian changing the name of Judea to Syria-Palestinia following the 132-135 AD Bar Kokhba revolt. Simon Barcoba was a Jewish Zealot, a leader in a political movement that attempted to overthrow the Roman rule over Israel and make Israel great again. After Bar Koba was defeated, Hadrian wanted to eliminate any trace of a Jewish presence in Judah. The geographical area known as Gaza, Palestine today is the original home of the Philistines. The first mention of the Philistines is found in Genesis 20 in 1897 BC. Abimelech was king of Gerar in the plain of Philistia.

The first battle between the nation of Israel and the Philistines is mentioned in Judges 3:31 and occurred sometime between 1400 and 1000 BC. Joshua conquered Jerricho Judges 6 in 1405 BC and began taking the land that became the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel continued until 70 AD when the Roman Emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem, the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were dispersed around the globe as Jesus prophesied in Mathew 24:2.

Israel did not exist as a nation again until “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” by the UN on May 14, 1948. This was prophetically alluded to by Jesus in Mathew 24:32-33. The people displaced by the UN charter in 1948 are contemporary Palestinians. These are a melting pot of Arabic people, and Roma (gypsies).

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:1-12

The current geographical boundaries that included Israeli control of Jerusalem were established during the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967.

Muslims believe Israel and especially Jerusalem belong to the descendants of Ishmael. If you are Jewish or Christian, then there is no disputing that the land of Israel is Jacob, over whom Jesus reigns. It belongs to God’s chosen people, the Jews, into whom we Christians are grafted. Of course, many Jews and some Christians, do not realize this…

yet…

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Romans 11:17-18

As for Hamas and the rest of Ishmael’s descendants, they have never validated the existence of Israel, and in their own words, they never will.

There is an ever-growing pressure in the world to align with Esau and Ishmael against Jacob and Issac. Therefore, all Christians should carefully read and understand Romans chapter 11 regarding God’s plan for Israel and Israel’s relationship with the church. Or should I say the church’s relationship with Israel? As I will show, it includes a dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age.

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Romans 11:22-23

The people known as Hamas today are, in fact, Nazis and are supported by those who have sought the eradication of the Jewish people since Hamann in the book of Esther Chapter 3. Both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have the same roots.

What should we do?

We must destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God 2 Cor 10:5-6 We must take captive any thought that would dare turn anything in God’s word into a pejorative. Zionism is once again becoming a pejorative. Zion has everything to do with both Judaism and Christianity. Zion was first mentioned when David captured Mount Zion 2 Samuel 5:7 in the 10th century BC. Zion is the City of David from which Jews know their Messiah will rule. Christians already know that the Messiah is Jesus. Mount Zion is Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Issac, and God provided a sacrifice in a foreshadowing of Jesus. Mount Zion is the site of the 1st-century Jewish Temple. Today it is the site of the Alasque mosque commonly known as the Dome of the Rock. It is the most contentious piece of real estate in the world over which and upon which the most significant end times events will play out.

Dome of the Rock 2018

There is a lot of left-leaning and supersessionist propaganda that has changed the definition of Zionist to mean secular and political Jews who want to dominate the world. True Zionists are those who rejoice that Jesus will eventually rule from Zion. One thing is certain. At some future point, Jesus will descend upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to set up His millennial Kingdom. Zechariah 14, Revelation 20. This is also declared in Psalm 2 written in 1044 BC.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree… Psalm 2:1-7

So where are we on the time line?

For starters, it looks like what Zephaniah prophesied in 620 BC is taking place in Gaza now.

For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. Zeph 2:4-5

If that is the case then Islamists, Antisemites, and confused supersessionists can take a deep breath. Contemporary political Israel is not the same Israel from which Jesus will reign. Those in Israel and all other nations (people groups) who continue to reject Jesus as savior are not off the hook. If my interpretation of scripture is correct, God’s judgment falls on them next.

Or should I say, “falls on us”?

“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord,
 “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger;
for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.”

Zephaniah 3:8

My exegetical analysis of scripture leads me to the Ezekiel 38-39 war. Barring a rise in American antisemitism that turns the USA from Israel entirely, it seems to me that NATO must become so tied up with its own crises e.g. wars, that it is unable or unwìlling to come to Israel’s aid.

God began returning the Jews to Israel in 1948 in fulfillment of His promise declared in Ezekiel 36. Not because Israel deserved it. They did not. God did it for the sake of His Holy name.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

Ezekiel 36:22

The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is none other than the restored Nation of Israel that we see today.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

Ezekiel 37:11-14

Still, Israel is anything but righteous. Hence, we see the greatest chastisement of the Jewish people coming in Ezekiel 38. The map above shows the nations or elements from within nations that will descend upon Israel.

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Ezekiel 38:14-16

Yet Israel will prevail. Not because of their army or the Iron Dome, etc., but because God will intervene on Israel’s behalf with an earthquake, torrential rains, fire and sulfur…

So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 38:23

Having observed the shifting Arab geopolitical alignments since the AL Aqsa Flood on October 7th, 2023. One thing seems certain: those who believe righteousness is rooted in Esau, not Jacob and Ishmael, not Issac, will never back down. Those who hold the reverse to be true will also never back down. Neither side is correct regarding righteousness apart from Jesus. Hence these wars that were foreknown rather than caused by God must take place because they are the trajectory of original sin that will only be rectified by surrender to Christ Jesus.

I continue to watch the lead-up to Ezekiel 38 in real time as Israel continues to prepare for an all-out war with Iran. Meanwhile, the entire Arab world just united over Palestine on November 11th in a Resolution of the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On November 11, an urgent Arab-Islamic summit was held in Riyadh, addressing the issue of Palestine. This was an extremely significant event. Noteworthy was the simultaneous participation of Assad and Erdogan, a convergence that would have been impossible until recently. Additionally, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke not only about Palestine but also about the need to support Iran and Hezbollah — a sensational shift, as Saudi Arabia and Iran have traditionally been considered adversaries. The same applies to Hezbollah...Muslims can only unite through a common war against a common enemy.
It is at the doorstep.

Alexander Dugin

Among other things, this conglomeration of Arab / Islamist states that includes every territory named in Ezekiel 38 and more, agreed that Jerusalem, what Islamists call East Al-Quds, is the Palestinian capital.

Recently Turkey, who is a NATO member, severed all diplomatic ties with Israel. Previous to that Russia and Iran signed a mutual defense treaty. Does this mean the prophesied conflict is imminent? Not necessarily.

We need a catalyst that kicks the whole thing off.

An oracle concerning Damascus.Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.

Isaiah 17:1

Damascus, Syria, is the oldest, most consistently populated city on earth. It has never been destroyed. For quite some time, I have felt that the fulfillment of this prophecy would be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and unleashes the fury of the Arab world against Israel. Again, this is my interpretation of scripture. I am a Watchman, not a prophet. Recently, Israel said, that they are going to deal with Syria when they finish with Hezbollah. Previously Damascus and Aleppo, Syria, were the primary venues through which Iran supplied its proxies with weapons. Now Assad’s pro-Shia government in Syria has been overthrown by Sunni Al Queda and ISIS. Some are breathing a sigh of relief. However, these Western and Turkish-backed rebels are claiming they will take Al Quds.

Stay tuned…

After God, not Israel, subdues Israel’s Ezekiel 38 assailants; I will be looking for a man or an entity of peace to come on the scene, resulting in the return of the Jewish worship on Mount Moriah, including the restoration of daily sacrifice. The contemporary Sanhedrin had a portable altar ready when we were in Israel in 2018. I am told they now have a tabernacle ready to be assembled within days. That said,

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

1 Thess 5:3

At some point after that the daily sacrifice will be taken away and the abomination that causes desolation will be set up. Mat 24:15, Dan 12:11 This will be followed by 3.5 years or 1290 days or 42 months Revelation 13:5 of tribulation.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be

Mat 24:21

The great tribulation is the wrath of the dragon who knows his time is short Rev 12:12, not the wrath of God. I am noting this because pretribulation rapture proponents quote 1 Thess 5:9 God has not destined us for wrath, as proof that the Church will not be here. While I will be happy if I am wrong, I believe the church will be here and God will preserve it as he preserved Israel in the wilderness during Exodus.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation 12:6

Jesus (the son of man) will return the way he left Acts 1:9-11, and was prophesied in Dan 7:13-14, and finally confirmed by The Son of Man Himself in Mat 24:29-31. No one knows the day or the hour, but we do know the season. It will mark the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets followed by the Feast of Atonement and The Feast of Tabernacles.

The true purpose of God’s plan is to reconcile all the children of Abraham. It is spelled out in verses like Zephania 3:9-20, Isaiah 19:16-24 and Romans 11. So often man makes divisions that God does not see. Can we fully comprehend God’s plan in the context of our limited human cognition? Probably not. Hence Isaiah 55:8-9, and Paul’s similar conclusion to Romans 11.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

But don’t take my word for it. I’m just a guy with a Bible. Be a Berean and search the scriptures yourself to see if what I am saying is true. Even if I am wrong regarding exactly how end-time events play out God’s ultimate plan of reconciliation is the goal. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Passages like Romans 11 foster greater depths of reverence and awe.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Paul’s warning regarding the broken branches which are the Jewish people, is connected to a more dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age. As you may know, Mathew 24-25, the Olivet Discourse, contains an outline regarding events leading up to the end of the age and Jesus’ return. Verses 3-31 tell us in near bullet point form what we will see taking place and what may happen to us if we are alive at the time. Verses 32-52 are allegorical descriptions of what those days will be like. Mathew 25 contains instructions on how believers should respond. Mat 25:31-46 is the final judgment marked by the all-familiar parable of the sheep and the goats. Verse 40 is the most oft-quoted.

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

While Jesus loves the poor and downtrodden, the least of His brothers is not the starving child in a third-world dump. In fact, He said these are the greatest. Mat 18:1-5. Consider that Jesus was a Jewish Messiah who came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. The least of Jesus’ brethren when He spoke to His Jewsish disciples, were the Jews who rejected Him and were about to have him tortured and crucified. Given the legal right under a Sanhedrin their descendants would persecute and kill His followers today. Hence Paul wrote,

As regards the gospel, they (The Jews) are enemies of the gospel for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
 Rom 11:28-29

Be careful. Arrogance toward the broken branches, a.k.a. “Zionists” could result in your hearing,

‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. May 25:41

Righteousness will only be found in Jesus. A righteous government and society will not exist until He returns to rule from Mount Zion.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Acts 10:34-35

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

On Milk and Meat

1 Peter 2 begins with Peter’s exhortation that the newborn believers exiled in Asia Minor would desire the pure milk of the word so they would grow. Spiritual milk is the gospel of salvation and the resulting new identity we have in Christ. Eph 2:1-10 This is the foundation of Christianity and reality itself. If indeed you are in Christ, you are a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17  If indeed you are in Christ you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Your identity is in Christ. Col 3:3-4

Many contemporary Christians lose sight of the fact that the purpose of milk is to grow teeth capable of chewing solid food. 1 Cor 3 The KJV calls it meat.

I prefer meat.

We made it to 1 Pet 2:4 in our Bible study last week.

…Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 2:4-5

Peter is quoting from Isaiah and Psalms. The stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone. Psalms 118:22 “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, and a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Isaiah 28:16 Jesus is the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God. …the chief cornerstone. We the church are living stones being built into God’s building. 1 Cor 3:9 Once again, the foundation laid by the Apostles is the Gospel. It is the template for reality.  If that foundation is changed or corrupted the whole building will burn and collapse. 1 Cor 3:20-14 It is for this reason that Paul gives such a very dire warning.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:8-9.

Peter goes on to say that the purpose of God’s building (His people) is the offering of spiritual sacrifices. In the past, not even kings could offer sacrifices but only Levitical priests. In 2 Chronicles 26, the Lord struck King Uzaiah with leprosy for daring to offer incense on the altar of incense. Today believers are a Holy Priesthood. Our spiritual sacrifices include the sacrifice of praise, acts of charity, and submission to spiritual authority. Heb 13:15-17 We are to walk in love as Christ loved us. Eph 5:2   Most importantly we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. Rom 12:1-2 “Self” must be slain on the altar before we come boldly (as holy priests) to the throne of grace. Heb 4:16 This includes but is not limited to our self-image and facades, our pride, our rights, and if necessary our very lives. Rev 12:11 Not loving our lives onto death is a scary thought. But Jesus told us to fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which can destroy both soul and body in hell. Mat 10:28 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Prov 9:10 This also is spiritual milk. Fear phóbos (terror) of the Lord is the terror associated with the idea of ignoring or rejecting Him.  It begins with the recognition of our littleness, our weakness, our brokenness devoid of wisdom and understanding. As we mature, phóbos leads to reverence and awe more than terror as we behold and appreciate the awesome wisdom power, and grandeur of our sovereign God in the context of the Spirit of (our) adoption as sons… Rom 8:15 The reverence and awe that flows from sonship is a function of love and gratitude.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Sometimes suffering is where the meat begins. Rom 8:16-17

Understanding the necessity of suffering only comes with maturity grown from a diet of spiritual meat. The transition from milk to meat begins when we find ourselves less and less consumed with self e.g. my identity, my calling, my comfort, my rights etc., and become so enamored with Him and His will that self drops away. You know you are eating meat when the words you’ve read a thousand times jump off the page and give way to deeper revelation and awe.

For example

One of the most awe-inspiring, faith-building albeit mind-boggling aspects of God’s word is that scriptures written in the past tense may describe future events. For example, Isaiah wrote about Jesus in the past tense seven hundred years before He was born. David did the same in Psalms 22. Spiritual meat that reveals deeper truth nourishes faith that can endure testing and be proven genuine. 1 Pet 1:6-9

Why would God write about the future as if it already happened?

Did he intentionally confuse us? After all Solomon did write that, …he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecc 3:11 In my experience, scriptures that conflict with my existential perceptions and understanding of creation, time and distance bring me to a crossroads of awe and doubt. Do I lean on my own understanding, remain wise in my own eyes and doubt the validity of the text? Prov 3:5-8  Or do I trust God’s word that tells us He saved us before He created us and allow the paradox to birth revelatory awe in my soul?

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Eph 1:4

Trust the Science.

As is often the case, the science with which so many try to refute God’s Word repeatedly validates it. Four hundred and fifty years before Jesus was born Solomon wrote That which is, already has been; that which is to be already has been; Ecc 3:15 Today the Theory of Special Relativity in quantum physics states that everything that is going to happen has already happened. 

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? … Rom 11:33-34, Isaiah 55:8-9, Job 38:4-7

According to these physicists, while everything that ever will exist already does exist, it is the act of observation on our part that brings each moment into what we call physical or experiential existence. The Bible uses the word “fulfillment”. If that sounds weird or “New Agey” then consider this.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Heb 11:1

What if we replaced the aforementioned “act of observation” with “faith”? Lots of believers attempt to walk this out individually, especially regarding healing. Miracles and healing do happen. However, statistically speaking, more often nothing happens. Now you might conclude that my observation of the “nothing” is the problem. But denial and faith are not the same. Perhaps the reason we fail to manifest the power that should attend our roll as priests is the fact that what we call the body of Christ amounts to what Art Katz called an aggregate of individuals doing their own thing. Perhaps the problem is that we are consumed with “My Identity” rather than

“Our identity”

Ephesians 4:11-16 is the cry of my heart amidst pipe dreams of “unity in community” based on games, social gatherings, dinners, and birthday parties. Our identity will only be found when we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; We can get together over a taco at the drop of a dime. But to come together in His Word, according to His Word to search out the mysteries of His word Prov 25:2…well ya know I’m really tired and besides I have a birthday party to get to”… But what if unified corporate belief  in His Word that produces faith Rom 10:17 is what is required for His biblical blueprint to be made manifest as reality? Ephesians 4:11-16

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds  and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting… Ephesians 4:11-16

The guiding principle behind the Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study is that we all see in a mirror dimly. 1 Cor 13:12 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Rom 10:17 It follows that we all see and hear better when we do it together. Holy Spirit is our teacher. John 6:13 

Still, how can unity of the faith happen when almost no one wants it? How do I know that no one wants it? Because as I showed in our previous post only 6-9% of professing Christians and 37% of pastors in the US have a Biblical worldview based on the Word that God exults above ALL His name. Psalms 138:2.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb 5:12-14

Eat Meat.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Devotional

Smart Like A Rock

“Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) John 18:10

I often wonder about Malchus, the servant of Caiaphas whose ear was cut off in the Garden of Gethsemane. Naturally, I did some digging. Ironically, the name Malchus means “My king; kingdom; or counselor”. The Bible doesn’t say what he believed before the attack. It would seem that he lived his life according to the collective religious consensus into which he was born. Like many people today, he probably never questioned the assumptions that undergirded his worldview. One day he was simply performing his usual duties when a lunatic named Peter chopped off his ear. If that wasn’t crazy enough the zealot insurrectionist named Jesus whom he’d come to help arrest picked up his ear and stuck it back on his head.

That Jesus’ final miracle before he was crucified was to miraculously restore Malchus’s ability to hear strikes me as poignant if not prophetic.

The Bible says nothing about Malchus after Jesus was arrested. But extra-biblical historical texts indicate that he was converted and went to live in a monastery in Greece until the end of his life.

Smart like a Rock

It is uncertain whether or not Peter was a Zealot (Jewish nationalist). We do know that his initial hope was in a physical messiah that would fulfill the prophecy as they understood it.  Peter thought Jesus would conquer Israel’s enemies once and for all, and then reign like King David. More than a few professing Christians are prone to similar errors today.

But His “Kingdom is not of this world…” John 18:36

Peter is fishing, when Jesus calls Him. He simply drops his net and follows. The Bible isn’t clear about what went through Peter’s mind when he followed Jesus. But his actions before the resurrection imply anything but a divine revelation of Jesus’s true identity and plan. 

None of the disciples truly understood Jesus until after the resurrection.

Peter’s first encounter with the true identity of Jesus is found in Mat 8:14-17 when He heals Peter’s mother-in-law.  Healing is a primary basis of faith for many today. I could be completely wrong but I imagine Jesus rolling His eyes a lot. His healings often seem like a concession rather than His primary point.

So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” John 4:48

While I am only listing scriptures where Peter is at the center, we should keep in mind that he is present throughout all of Jesus’s teachings and miracles including His calming the storm. Mat 8:23-27

The next paradigm-shifting encounter comes when Jesus sends the disciples out in a boat and then follows them later on foot. Peter sees Jesus walking on water and tells Him to command him to get out of the boat and walk – if in fact, He is really Jesus.  He does. So Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking. Then the wind scares him and he starts to sink. 

Jesus takes Peter’s hand and pulls him up before admonishing him.

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Mat 14:22-33

Peter had his eyes and faith fixed on Jesus as he stepped out of the boat. Then he was distracted by the wind. His focus moved from Jesus to his external circumstances and he began to sink.

If I am honest, I’m a lot like Peter.  I know that I know I was supernaturally delivered from a point-blank shotgun blast and over two decades of addiction that I’d tried everything known to man to beat. It is empirically verifiable that my life made a 180-degree turn from that moment on. Still, I have occasionally been tempted to question and consider alternative explanations. Was that really you Jesus? It was of course. Still, it got me thinking. Maybe, miracles, signs, and wonders come with a shelf life. They point to the source upon which our focus should remain. 

Or they expire and leave us craving another experience. Mat 16:4

In Mat 15:10-20 Jesus explains to the Pharisees that it’s what comes out of one’s mouth that defiles them not what goes in. Peter still doesn’t understand and Jesus explains it to him.

Next, we have an amazing display of discernment in Peter’s revelation that Jesus is the Christ to which Jesus replies “Upon this rock, I will build my church.” Mat 16:13-18 Some people think Peter was the rock.

He was referring to Peter’s revelation that He – Jesus was the Rock. 

Somehow Peter assumed the authority to rebuke the one he’d just acknowledged as the Messiah. Peter determined that he would not allow Jesus to go to the cross in fulfillment of Isaiah 53 and at least 351 other prophetic scriptures. So Jesus rebuked Peter,

“get behind me Satan” Mat 16:23

Peter was sincere but earthly-minded.


Next, in Mat 17:1-8 Peter is one of the disciples accompanying Jesus to the mount of Transfiguration where He Jesus, attended by Moses and Elijah, reveals His deity. Peter was busy wondering if he should make tents for the three when suddenly,

“Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Later as they walked down into the valley. Jesus commands Peter and the others, 

“Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” Mat 17:9

Apparently, this wasn’t a problem because based on their reaction to Jesus’ crucifixion no one understood what he was saying anyway.

Back in the valley, Peter watches Jesus cast out a demon and admonishes the other disciples for their faith that apparently was a lot smaller than a mustard seed. Mat 17:20

Next, we have money collectors asking Peter if Jesus will pay tribute in Capernaum.  “Of course, He will”, says Peter. Then he asks Jesus. Jesus says “No”. But just to avoid offending people He tells Peter to catch a fish and give them whatever he finds in its mouth. Peter loves fishing.  He finds a gold coin in its mouth and gives it to the collectors.

One would think that would have rattled Peters’s worldly paradigm.

Given that I can so identify with Peter’s misunderstandings, mistakes, and failures, I have to wonder. Was it apathy born of Peter’s familiarity with Jesus? Was Peter so consumed with his view of things and the hope of a coming overthrow of the Roman empire? Or was he simply naive and uneducated?

Jesus gives an in-depth teaching in Mat 18 about cutting off everything that leads to sin. Peter has heard all the other teachings about forgiveness and still asks ‘How many times do I have to forgive? Is seven enough?’

No, Peter.

“70 times 7”. Mat 18:21-22

Jesus teaches about the potential bondage of material wealth in Mat 19 and finishes with the idea that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into the kingdom of God. Luckily all things are possible with God. 

How does Peter respond?

Ok….but what about us? We gave up everything. What do we get? Mat 19:27 Like so many of us Peter lost sight of the fact that he already had the most valuable gift in Jesus Himself.

Well, Peter, here’s the deal. Y’all get to rule with me from 12 thrones in heaven.

Still, Peter sincerely loves Jesus. He swears that he is different from the others and will never deny Him. Jesus looks at Peter and says, actually Peter you will. In fact,

you are going to deny me before the rooster crows three times… Mat 26:34

Peter is incensed and responds with even greater determination. “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same. Verse 35

Things come to a head in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter has one of the two swords that Jesus told them to bring. Jesus goes off to pray and asks them to watch and pray with Him. Naturally, Peter and the others fall asleep. Peter gets the brunt of Jesus’s anger. “So, could you not watch with me one hour?!” Maybe Peter is overcompensating for crushed self-esteem born of his failure. Now more than ever he stands ready to defend Jesus as the soldiers come to arrest Him. If I were Peter I probably would assume that Jesus told me to bring a sword so I could use it. I’d be wondering if this moment marked the beginning of the zealot rebellion for which I’d been waiting.

Peter swings hard. I’m guessing that splitting Malchus’s head was his goal.  Instead, he misses and cuts off his ear. Malchus and Peter stare in dumbfounded amazement as Jesus exclaims “No more of this!” Luke 22:51 picks up the ear and reattaches it. Then He blasts poor Peter again.

“Peter! Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” John 18:11

It wasn’t long after that Peter denied Jesus three times. John 18:17-27

Fast forward

Jesus is crucified and resurrected. Everyone is standing around the tomb talking about the fact that everything happened just as Jesus said it would. Now what? Peter is even more confused than before.  He runs into the tomb in apparent unbelief to see if Jesus’s body is there.

…for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. John 20:4-10

Soon after Jesus shows himself to the disciples. Peter still doesn’t get it and characteristically replies,

“I’m going fishing!”

He and the disciples spend a fish-free night on the water. In the morning Jesus calls to them from shore and instructs them where to throw their nets.  Suddenly, “the one whom Jesus loved” (John) realizes it is the resurrected Jesus standing on the beach. What does Peter do? 

He puts all his clothes on, jumps out of the boat, and swims to shore.

Later during a beach breakfast fish fry, Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter loves him. The irony that Peter had denied Him three times just three days ago seems lost on Peter as he passionately affirms His love. Jesus replies that if Peter loves Him then he should “feed my sheep”. Then He prophesied Peter’s death. John 21:15-19 Peter still did not have the remotest clue as to what Jesus was saying as evidenced by Peter’s next question. What about that guy? John 21:21

“If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

How often have I been so focused on what I think God is doing or wants to do in others that I remain oblivious to what God was doing in me?

There is a story about Charles Darwin as he arrived in Patagonia on the HMS Beagle, a colossal steel brigantine ship. Darwin and his crew rowed ashore in rowboats. To his surprise, the Patagonians who had canoes themselves clearly saw the row boats. But they did not perceive the HMS Beagle. Why? Because a ship so large was so far outside the realm of their experience and resulting presuppositions that it was too much for their brains to process. Instead, their brains filtered it. They literally could not see it.

I often wonder, as I read about Peter, how much I fail to see?

Peter wasn’t stupid. He simply had his own ideas about God. They prevented him from seeing. It didn’t matter how many times Jesus explained God’s plan. Peter filtered what didn’t fit his paradigm.

In the Marine Corps, we referred to guys like Peter as “Rocks”.

Still, Peter’s heart and intentions were in the right place. It didn’t matter how many times he failed and was rebuked. Peter loved Jesus and never stopped pursuing Him. He remained “Semper Fi“. Ironically, it wasn’t until after Jesus ascended Acts 1:11 and Holy Spirit was poured out in the Upper Room that Peter finally understood everything Jesus had taught.

He preached the entire Gospel in his first sermon beginning in Acts 2:14-15

“For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel…”

Peter was apprehended by Holy Spirit in the upper room. Paul was apprehended on the road to Damascus. I was apprehended at gunpoint on a beach. We don’t know for certain what happened to Malchus and I may just be projecting. But I suspect he was apprehended the moment his hearing was restored. I know a lot of people who were miraculously apprehended by Jesus. I am convinced that a truly transformed life is always the fruit of divine apprehension, not merely an act of human will. John 15:16

Even so, our will often gets us into position for our appointed arrest.

1st and 2nd Peter address some hard topics. Let’s keep in mind that like Peter, every one of us is prone to be smart like a rock. It is only through the power of Holy Spirit in conjunction with the whole counsel of God through His Word that we gain the right perspective and ability to joyfully walk out the hard things to which every Christian is called.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Ephesians and Eschatology.

Eschatology: a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind.  Merriam Webster Dictionary

Eschatology can be a touchy subject these days. Those who endeavor to understand it soon find themselves traversing a theological gauntlet. Today some sects and denominations reject those who do not adhere to their end-times doctrine. Add to that the multitude of failed end-time prophecies, in the 1970s and 80s and it’s no wonder that eschatology has become a proverbial hot potato that many pastors simply avoid. Still, if we adhere to the basic tenants of Christianity rooted in an eternal perspective, we will always begin with the end in mind.

Our view of the end drives how we live in the present. 

Most people automatically think of the book of Revelation anytime the end times are mentioned. Yet it is a huge mistake to begin there. None of the New Testament existed when Jesus gave His near bullet-pointed eschatological discourse on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. Even so, given that we are studying the Book of Ephesians it may be worthy to note that Ephesus is the first Church to be addressed in the Book of Revelation.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Rev 2:4-5

Given the current and emerging state of Polycrisis in today’s world, more and more people are concerned about eschatology. That’s not a bad thing. The sheer number of unbelieving friends and family that suddenly wanted to know about the end times when COVID lockdowns went into effect made us realize that sometimes “eschatology drives discipleship”.

Still, there is a multitude of eschatological views and variations of those views regarding when and how the end times play out. Add to that the differing views regarding when a “Rapture” Harpazo takes place and you’ve got seeds of even more division. We think Jesus is super clear in Mat 24:29-31.  Even so, we will be thrilled if we are wrong and receive early cloud tickets home.

Confusion arises when people trust their preferred eschatological experts without testing 1 Thess 5:20-21 or searching scripture to see if it is true. Acts 17:11 Reading books and listening to sermons about scripture instead of studying scripture itself is unacceptable 2 Tim 2:15. At the end of the day, eschatology should be studied like any other topic in the Bible. That means as literally as possible in the original textual, grammatical, and cultural context.

A common problem among those most interested in eschatology is viewing scripture through a lens of current events. The tendency is to focus on topics like the Mark of the Beast Rev 13  as people try to predict the identity of the antichrist and the trajectory of humanity toward the greatest tribulation. Dan 12 Mat 24:21 Rev 13 An unintended result is that the plans of the enemy may trump (pun intended) the return of Jesus as every disease, conflict, disaster, and member of the political and financial elite is falsely correlated with scripture.

Some correlations are crazier than others…

This approach becomes most problematic when the resulting eschatological views become dogmatic. That’s what happened with people such as Hal Lindsey in the 70s and 80s. In the end, the multitude of false end times prophecies made Christians everywhere look like children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Eph 4:14  They also helped to validate things like New Atheism as those not firmly rooted and grounded in God’s Word continued to destroy the Christian witness with bad exegesis.

At worst bad eschatology results in crazy cults and tragedy like the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas in 1993.

Hence not only can eschatology drive discipleship. Eschatology can also drive heresy.

We’ve studied it in depth and still only scratched the surface. If you still insist on studying eschatology; great. But let us do it soberly and well. 1 Thess 5:6 “Sober” is nḗphō to be calm and collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, circumspect.

Our Hope in Two Parts

The Gospel message is two-fold. First, we have the fulfilled Gospel of Salvation whereby Jesus conquered sin and death and made a way for all people to be reconciled to the Father. Eph 2:8-10  Where people previously relied on a high priest to enter the Holy of Holies on their behalf Heb 9:7, Jesus tore the veil that separated us from God. Mat 27:51 Today we are able to come boldly to the throne of grace…on our own. Heb 4:16 This is the meaning of “It is finished”. The second part is eschatological, the Gospel of the Kingdom which is yet to be fulfilled. Rev 21-22 Together these define the Aramaic word

Maranatha. 1 Cor 16:22

Jesus has come.  Jesus is coming.

If we view the world and its events through the lens of scripture then we remain mindful that Judgement comes first to the house of God. 1 Pet 4:17 Our first concern should be the status of the body of Christ, not the anti-Christ. Psalm 139:23-24, 1 Cor 1:10, Eph 4:13, Heb 12

Any correct view of eschatology prioritizes the fulfillment of God’s purpose and plan for His bride without spot or wrinkle Eph 5:27. The endgame for the end of days is the full acquisition of our inheritance for which Holy Spirit deposited in every believer is

“an earnest” – arrhabṓn – a down payment. Eph 1:13-14

That’s not to make light of the gift of Holy Spirit but a call to be mindful of how much more is to come. This is the correct approach to eschatology. We must keep in mind that our inheritance will only be realized by individuals existing as part of a unified bride, not individual Gnostic Christians, prepping for battle with returning Nephilim and the antichrist. Regardless of how we imagine the end times, if we study eschatology as Jesus taught it we will see an emphasis on a call to endurance and faithfulness. Rom 5:3-5, Mat 24:13, Rev 12:11, Rev 13:10 Jesus framed endurance in the context of childbirth. Mat 24:8 Faithfulness carried to fruition looks like All attaining to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… Eph 4:13 Incidentally “manhood” does not refer to the masculinity of individual men any more than the spotless bride refers to individual women. Both are allegorical references to the body of Christ unified in Him. Eph 2:15-17

It’s no accident that Paul concludes Ephesians 5 with the image of marriage between a husband and a wife. The one new man and unity of the faith is represented in ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,  and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. Gen 2:24, Mark 10:7-8 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Eph 5:32-33 It follows that the state of our marriages in the church reflects the state of the church and visa versa. Hence, our eschatology should be more focused on spot and wrinkle removal, unity in the faith, and maturity than on wars and rumors of wars over which Jesus said we should not be alarmed. Mat 24:6 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Cor 11:1-3

The potential consequences of rejecting this essential foundation of eschatology are profound.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Mat 22:11-14

The benefits of embracing it are beyond comprehension.

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Rev 19:6-9

Our view of the end drives how we live in the present. 

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary

Expose What?

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, Eph 5:11-13

Expose is elénchō bring to the light, convict, refute, confute, reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove, chasten, to punish.

Ephesians 5:3-20 addresses the issue of sin, in the church. …instead let there be thankfulness to God. It also instructs us to Look carefully then how we walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

The biggest question in our Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study this past week was “Exactly what do we expose and rebuke?” “What does that look like if we do?” Are we to simply reject those who are in sin as Eph 5:7 seems to imply?

Therefore do not become partners with them…

But Jesus hung out with sinners. Luke 7:34-35 Yes but He did not participate in their sin. That said, Ephesians 5 specifically addresses the issue of sin as it relates to believers within the church. Paul addresses the same subject in 1 Cor 5 when he orders the church “to deliver (The offender) to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

Mathew 18:15-20 gives clear instructions for exposing and rebuking sin on an individual basis. Ephesians 5 goes deeper. In my opinion, we are to bring sin that might not be identified as sin to light so it can be clearly seen, understood, and avoided.

…when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Eph 5:13

If you are young and or new to the church you may be unaware of the most recent spiritual attacks that produce unadulterated heresy. This is evidenced by a growing number of formerly biblically sound teachers like Tim Keller, Beth Moore, Mike Todd, and Andy Stanley to name just a few who have embraced aspects of what is commonly called WOKE ideology. WOKE ideology creeps into the hearts and minds of believers under the auspices of compassion and acceptance in a spirit of

“love the sinner, hate the sin”. Luke 7:34-35

Given the history of racism in the USA, especially in the South, the basic tenets of WOKE ideology seem righteous and loving. After all what kind of Christian supports racism or opposes justice for the oppressed? Given the history of publicly sanctioned atrocities e.g. slavery that occurred before the Civil Rights movement, only a monster would oppose a movement underpinned by the idea of making previous wrongs right. Micah 6:8 The question is not if righteousness is required but rather; what is righteous? The heresy begins when we regard the flesh as identity, mistake reparations for grace, confuse justice with equity, and love with acceptance of sin. At the end of the day, WOKE is another gospel for which Paul says those who preach it are accursed.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Gal 1:8-9

He reminds us that we are soldiers in a war and instructs us how to fight.“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”. 2 Cor 10:4-6

Perhaps you have seen news footage of parents in front of school boards disputing the teaching of subjects like Critical Race Theory (CRT) and aberrant sexual behavior to children in schools. The normalization of all that was previously defined as mental illness is simply unfathomable to most. Hence much of Paul’s meaning in Ephesians 5 involves shedding light on the enemy’s methodologies in leading people astray. Eph 6:11

What is commonly known as Critical Theory and Post Modern Theory form the philosophical backdrop of the Woke movement. It is a mutation of an opportunistic virus created by Satan when he rebelled against God and was cast out of Heaven. It is rooted in pride, fertilized by entitlement, and watered by conflict. Just as the Bible provides genealogies that culminate with the birth of Jesus, so does the WOKE movement have a satanic genealogy that culminates with the intention of destroying the Church and any civilization supporting it. For those who may be interested I have compiled a timeline listing people and events that directly influenced the replication and propagation of all that resulted in WOKE ideology up to 2021. You can download the PDF here. CRT History.

CRT

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is often framed by words like “diversity”, “unconscious bias” or “sensitivity training” and always in the name of love.

The Woke Church is CRT applied to the gospel.

Again, as the aforementioned download shows, CRT is derived from failed Marxists in the Frankfurt School of Economics during the early 20th century.  I say “failed” because Karl Marx believed in an inevitable violent revolution of the working class against the capitalist class. Rooted in the Hegelian Dialectic this revolution was to produce order out of chaos and finally a utopia. However, Marx did not account for the fact that while the rich indeed got richer under capitalism, the poor got richer too. When the Russian Revolution only produced greater economic disparity and human suffering, the Marxists returned to the proverbial drawing board. Given that Marxism requires conflict between oppressor and oppressed classes, Critical Theorists substituted race and gender for the previously failed model based on economics alone. Minorities and women became the oppressed and white males the oppressors. While it is certainly true that disparities exist in society and are problems to be overcome, they are a vital means to a desired outcome for these rebranded Marxists.

The key is in the word “CRITICAL”

The “Critical” in CRT is not the same as the “Critical” in Critical thinking.  Critical thinking is based on the discipline of logic and the laws of coherence, noncontradiction, and correspondence. Simply put, Critical thinking applied to problem-solving is solution-focused.  Critical Theory is problem-focused. Critical Thinking is constructive. Critical Theory is deconstructive. All Marxist revolutions begin with historical, cultural, linguistic, and institutional deconstruction then revision.

Critical Race Theorists are Cultural Marxists or Neo-Marxists. 

Some dispute this title as “Marxist” is often regarded as a pejorative.

In more spiritual terms, Voice of the Martyrs founder Richard Wurmbrand wrote that Karl Marx a Jew by birth then “backslidden” Lutheran eventually became a Satanist.  Fabian Socialism which is clearly Satanic, is the English version of Marxism that preceded and contributed to the development of Critical Theory in late 19th-century England. “Like critical theory, Fabianism was informed by Marxism and was responsible for the setting up of the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1895 to “study and eradicate social injustices and societal ills”– The origins of critical theory in education–

Fabian Socialism was a catalyst for Critical Theory in that they also recognized the futility of violent revolution and instead sought to transform society via social and ideological reform. Therefore deception is key.

“The Fabian window explicitly reflects the goal of the Fabian Society to portray an outward role contrary to its real character, i.e. to use deception in pursuing its ultimate aim. Specifically, a wolf in sheep’s clothing is the image which appears in the shield above the world being wrought in the Fabian mold.” The world is heated by socioeconomic and politically orchestrated chaos and then beaten into the desired shape by the proverbial Fabian Socialist blacksmiths. If we look closely we will see CRT and Fabianism working in harmony to undermine the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western culture.

Satan always comes as an angel of light 2 Cor 11:14 and always in the name of the greater good. 

Antonio Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci was an inspiration for Critical Theorists. Imprisoned by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini Gramsci was the first to define socialism as a religion and stated “socialism is precisely the religion that must kill Christianity.” He is best known for his Prison Notebooks that inspired future critical theorists and formed the basis for the theory of hegemony whereby instead of a violent and bloody revolution Marxist goals could be achieved through institutional manipulation and coercion via institutions like media, religion, and education. His socialist religion was rooted in “trust in man and his best strengths as the sole spiritual reality.” 

Not everyone needs to study and comprehend all the nuances of CRT and its proverbial cousins. But just in case you are still thinking these are coincidences rather than parts of an elaborate and very well-thought-out satanic plan…

In 1963 undercover FBI agent Cleon Skousen testified before Congress and outlined a 45-point plan of the American Communist Party. (also a PDF download) Incidentally, the word Communist is from the “Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx. Here are a few points in the plan worthy of note for this discussion.

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks, and retarding of children to the suppressive influence of parents.

As you can see they have been rather successful in promoting an agenda formed at least sixty years ago.

CRT Thinking Errors

Incoherence

Similar to atheists who frame their defense of atheism based on what atheism “is not” Today’s CRTs do the same when confronted with its abject lack of coherence.  For example, if I dispute the framing of my identity as “white” on the grounds that it is racist, CRTs will readily admit that my “whiteness” makes me guilty of racism. However, “whiteness” has nothing to do with skin color. On the other hand, if I say a black person is being racist they will say black people can not be racist. Only white people can be racist.

But I thought it wasn’t about skin color?

That their reasoning is incoherent within an objective worldview is irrelevant.  In their eyes, objective truth does not exist. They regard knowledge derived from critical thinking and logic as a form of colonialism. Basically, the evil, Christian, cisgendered white male-dominated patriarchy colonized all knowledge as a means of oppressing women and minorities. That this absurdity has taken root as truth should be regarded as a clear and present danger.

WOKE is a worldview.

As I’ve said, all world views are based on one or more empirically unprovable presuppositions. Some basic Christian presuppositions are that God created the universe and all people are created in His image. Truth, reality, and morality are objective, absolute, and enumerated in scripture that is inherent.  “Objective” means it is coherent and corresponds to reality as defined by our orthodox Christian worldview and does not contradict scripture. A very simplistic example of objective truth would be that if I jump off a cliff I am going to hit the ground below. Or, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap… Gal 6:7-9 Absolute means the same thing will happen every time. While Christians regard the Word of God as absolute objective truth. CRTs consider reality and the very idea of truth, especially moral truth to be a social construct. “Social construct” means man-made. The primary building blocks are language.

Hence what one says to a CRT carries more weight than what one does.

Postmodernism is another root of the Woke. Postmodernism maintains that truth if it exists at all is relative. What is true for you might not be true for me. What matters is that we respect one another’s FEELINGS. That means I respect your right to determine your truth.  You respect my right to determine mine.  If gay marriage and abortion fit your moral paradigm I should accept it. If any implied disagreement on my part hurts your feelings it is my moral duty to apologize for my insensitivity and admit I am wrong. In some places, insensitivity is grounds for being charged with a hate crime.

Progressivism

Postmodernism was a catalyst for Critical Theory to enter the church. Critical Theory is also veiled by the word “Progressive”. As is the case with Progressivism which views the US Constitution as a living document, Progressivism applied to Christianity views scripture the same. The understanding of scripture evolves in conjunction with the moral advancement of humankind. Gay marriage, Transgenderism, and abortion are moral advancements. If the Word of God is a living document its interpretation is always subject to revision according to our socially constructed reality.

Add CRT to the mix and traditional orthodox interpretations of scripture become invalidated due to their oppressive, racist, patriarchal roots. Hence today’s progressive WOKE church frequently frames Jesus as a revolutionary, who fought the patriarchy on behalf of the poor and oppressed. He was subsequently murdered by the same patriarchy for His impassioned pursuit of social justice. Hence, patriarchy in any form is always oppressive. This includes but is not limited to all creation governed by our Patriarch in Heaven.

Intersectionality further groups society based on subcategories of oppressed versus oppressor status.  Influence and authority are determined according to the number of intersectional groups to which one claims membership.  In a word, it validates and turbocharges the “victim stance”. For example, black is one group. Women are another. There are Muslim, gay, transgender, bisexual, nonbinary, soon-to-be Pedophiles a.k.a. MAPs (Minor Attracted Persons), and AI to name a just few.  The point here is that a gay black, woman has more clout than a mere black woman. A gay, Muslim, black woman has even more. Oppressor groups have just four categories white, male, cisgender, and Christian.  While it is possible to have membership in both oppressed and oppressor groups e.g. a white woman, or gay male, white, heterosexual Christian males can only be oppressors. Again this is not because of anything they do but because of who they are.  Any disagreement with this paradigm is labeled “White Fragility” which means an oppressor is too fragile and weak to accept culpability as the sole cause of all past and present social ills. Any denial of guilt is regarded as further proof of guilt. 

Critical Thinkers call this a Kafka Trap.

Standpoint Epistemology

Intersectionality defines reality and truth according to “lived experience”. This is called Standpoint Epistemology. Metaphorically speaking, “lived experience” is a form of social credit. These proverbial credit scores are elevated according to the number of intersectional groups to which one claims membership and their corresponding lived experiences as an oppressed person. Voddie Baucham called this “Ethnic Gnosticism” because it asserts secret knowledge held by the oppressed. The oppressed have the right to speak and to be heard. Those with the highest scores become influencers with the power to define truth. Oppressors have the right to shut up, listen and admit their guilt.  Those who admit their guilt and actively oppose their fellow oppressors are called

“Allies”

Corporations can also be allies

Membership and participation in the “community” is their reward. Community membership is maintained by compliance with the group consensus.  Consensus and acceptance are love.  Disagreement is hate.

Hate must be canceled.

Satan always mixes his lies with truth.

Scriptural meat that counters empty CRT deceit

In the case of professing Christians who have been “cheated  through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Col 2:8, scripture clearly refutes the foundations of CRT. 

Christianity in practice is about redemption and reconciliation between mankind and God in Christ.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the. ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Cor 5:16-19

CRT defines all human interactions according to power. Power and reparations are the goal. 

Forgiveness

Daniel interceded on behalf of Israel and modeled how we should pray to God regarding the collective sin of a nation Still, Christianity is predicated on repentance from personal sin. Forgiveness from God, and for others are core values without which it is impossible to be a Christian.

CRT is obsessed with the past collective sins of ancestors we never knew and for whose actions we are to be held responsible but never forgiven. Christian repentance and forgiveness are not possible in CRT because racism is not something one does.

Racism is something one is. 

Eternal penance through never-ending “anti-racism work” and becoming an “ally” are the only path to partial redemption. Redemption can only be partial because anti-racism work means continually identifying how one is a racist until the day that one dies.

Justice

Christianity maintains that everyone is created equal in the eyes of God and everyone is equal in the face of truth. Ethnicity and social status have no bearing. 

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” Lev 19:15

While Christians should be concerned about injustices like genuine active racial oppression, abortion, abuse, human trafficking, etc. true biblical justice is only promised in eternity. The American legal system was based on the premise that we are innocent until proven guilty and it is better that a guilty man go free than for an innocent man to be convicted.

CRT pursues social justice by aligning oppressed groups against designated oppressors for the sake of retribution and equity. One is guilty based on gender and race and unless proven to be a member of an oppressed group.

Equality versus Equity

CRT dismantles meritocracy and equal opportunity with the goal of achieving equity of outcomes. Everyone is to be rendered the same regardless of intelligence, ability, or effort. That the greater means of one person resulting from parents who worked sixteen hours a day to provide a better future for their children while those of another used drugs and refused to work at all is irrelevant. Unfortunately, just as impassioned Marxist revolutionary pawns learned during the previous century, applied Marxism never ends with equity for the poor but a consolidation of wealth and power among a ruling elite. Please understand, you are always facing a form of Marxism when the word “equity” is used in the context of social issues and social justice.

Wielding the Sword of the Spirit.

An entire counter-argument is contained in the scriptures that follow. I recommend copying the scriptures that resonate most with you. Formulate your own argument and be ready in season and out to rightly divide the word of truth and cast down these vain imaginations that exalt themselves above the word of God.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”  Rev 12:10 “Accuse” is katēgoréō from which the English word categorization is derived. Like Satan, CRTs forever classify people into socially constructed subcategories under the primary headings of oppressor and oppressed. Acts 10:34-35, Rom 2:11-16, and Gal 3:28-29 are clear that God is no respecter of persons, genders, social status, ethnicity, etc. Categorizing anyone apart from the Imago Dei and In Christ v.s. Not yet is demonic; period. God’s only criterion for acceptance is that we love and obey Him. Of course, we weep and pray for all who are blinded by the god of this world many of whom are in our own families 2 Cor 4:4. Still, we know that apart from Christ our most righteous deeds are like filthy rags. Rom 3:10-18, Isa 64. In the end, those not “in Christ Jesus” Eph 2 will perish for their lack of repentance just like the Galileans in Luke 13:1-5. 

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Woke is predicated on a lie

When engaging Woke ideology it is vital to understand that committed CRTs are never objectively honest. Not because they are intentionally lying, but because they have a different definition of truth. They will not examine or even acknowledge their own logical fallacies and thinking errors. Instead, they divert the conversation, move the proverbial goalposts, redefine their terms, and engage in “whataboutism” to keep you on the defensive. As for the Christian Woke, they rarely cite scripture. If they do they do so out of context. Isaiah 61:1 is a favorite that they interpret as speaking about themselves in the context of a personal social justice anointing, not the prophetic word that Jesus fulfilled in Luke 4:18. In my experience, there is little point in debating with them. Most importantly, be angry but don’t sin. Don’t give way to anger as their goal is often to trap us and invalidate our witness. Simply, define your terms, state your point, and preach the gospel. Any increase is up to God. 1 Cor 3:6-9

Finally, when contending with the Woke know that Rom 1:18-32 always applies from the first presupposition regarding God and his creation through the entire downward spiral to becoming reprobate. Almost every tenant of the Woke is addressed. Remember, hold your ground and reject Wokness knowing that it is the ideological spirit of the antichrist not the person in front of you that you oppose and seek to expose.

This PDF Download list of Bible verses is intended to help you frame a solid 1 Pet 3:15 apologia regarding God’s view of humanity and expose the contrast between the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and the increasingly popular false gospel of the WOKE church. You may also be interested in reading how Jesus dealt with racism here.

MARANATHA

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Devotional

The Paradox of “I”

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph 5:1-2

Beloved is agapētós: esteemed, favorite, worthy of love. It is the same word the Father spoke immediately following Jesus’ baptism.

“And behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved (agapētós) Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Mat 3:17

God’s love in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…” is agapáō love in a social or moral sense, to be fond of, to love dearly.

The difference is subtle but profound. Agapáō in John 3:16 is the love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses…by nature children of wrath. Eph 2:1-3. This is a statement of God’s character. He loved us because of who He is despite who we were. In contrast, Agapētós in Eph 5:1 is a statement about us. As believers made alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:5-6 we are now esteemed as His favorites, worthy of His love.

The reason for the change in our status remains the same. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9 Nevertheless we have been promoted to the rank of favored children with Jesus and seated with Him as if we’d been there the entire time.

Let that sink in…

When viewed correctly this revelation should provoke both

Gratitude and Fear.

Historically, believers embrace one or the other. We are consumed with Rom 7:15-25 “Oh what a wretched man I am! Who will save me from this body of death?” Or we redact Romans 7 completely in lieu of Romans 8.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Rom 8:1-2

Mind you this is Paul the Apostle speaking about himself. He went a step further in 1 Cor 4:13 when he described himself as the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. He said this in the context of addressing what I call “celebrityism” beginning in chapter three.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 1 Cor 3:7

“Celebrityism” is born of the “self” that Jesus requires us to deny. Mat 16:24 “I” becomes doctrine such that “My identity” supersedes His wherever “self” is not slain. It is so subtle, so seemingly normal that most do not give it a second thought. The doctrine of “I” is most clearly seen in an obsession with “My Ministry”, “My Calling”, “My gift”, “My significance” etc.

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 1Cor 4:6-7

“Celebrityism” begins with a sincere desire to be used by God and becomes idolatry when we idolize those we wish we could be in the world. “Celebrityism” is pride unwittingly instilled by culture. It is carnal- a work of the flesh. 1 Cor 3:1-4 It is a desire to be something or someone in the world in Jesus’ name. It is a fruit of immaturity, comparison, performance, and a perverted understanding of what it means to be

beloved children.

Many believers wrestle with the paradox of identity IN Him. Either we are so consumed with beholding our reflection in His eyes as we imagine it that we can not even see Him. Or we are so consumed with guilt, shame, and condemnation that we can not see Him. Either way, the enemy doesn’t care if we are consumed with narcissism or self-hatred. He only needs us to be focused on the unholy trinity of

Me, Myself and I

It’s been the same game since the fall when Adam and Eve’s attention went from perfect fellowship with God to an obsession with self when their eyes went from Him to themselves and they realized they were naked. Gen 3 The enemy doesn’t need us to choose sin. He just needs us to be focused on sin. He is perfectly happy to have me indulging with impunity or shamefully struggling in the flesh to avoid it. If only we would realize that all of us are born addicted to self, that

Selfishness and self-centeredness are the root of all our troubles.

We’d understand our identity as beloved children and be free.

That identity is a dead child of wrath revived, redeemed, and now beloved because of who God is, not because of who I am. He does not need me. He wants me. His plans are not contingent upon anything I do or fail to do. My participation is an undeserved privilege granted to me as a beloved son. If I rule and reign with Him it is only because my life is in Him. Today, I do not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it because it is covered by the blood of Jesus. Hence, my brokenness has become my blessing, my rap sheet my resume. I don’t need to affirm my or your identity in Him because the “I” is dead or still needs to be slain.

i die daily.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col 3:3

You are a beloved child.

Embrace the paradox

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries

Watchman On the Wall

“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes…” Eph 4:14

The Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible study made it to Ephesians 4:17 last week. We covered a lot. Someone briefly mentioned that it might benefit us as believers to remain ignorant of evil and its ways, otherwise known as human cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes...” After all, Smith Wigglesworth was so single-minded that he wouldn’t even allow a newspaper to enter his home. It makes sense within the proper context. That context is underpinned by fearlessness.

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 1 Cor 16:13

The strength of which Paul speaks is characterized by complete surrender to God’s will in our circumstances regardless of how those circumstances appear to us.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance, and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:12-13

We are not to be ignorant of satan’s devices lest he should take advantage of us. 2 Cor 2:11 Jesus commanded that His disciples be wise as serpents and gentle as doves as they went out among wolves. Mat 10:16

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Pet 5:8

Sober is nḗphō calm and collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, and circumspect. Circumspect means being careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences

Circumspect is the Watchman on the wall.

Still, Churches like ours tend to focus on what God, not the devil is doing. Again, that’s a good and correct thing for most people provided they have also done all, to stand…Eph 6:13-14 and aren’t hiding from hard things because they idolize comfort and are terrified of losing it.

I felt a gnawing conviction after our study.

I have always been a watchman. Ironically it’s a calling I fully embraced until I moved to Tennessee.  If I’m honest it’s the fear of man that zips my lips. I don’t want to offend the culture and people I love, and who thrive on joy.

Joy in the third world where we spent the better part of the last decade, is rooted in Col 3:1-3. I perceive that many American believers unconsciously correlate joy with their present health, wealth, and prosperity.

This is known as “Favor”

Facing the possibility of enduring suffering like so many believers around the globe already do is usually not a popular topic of discussion among contemporary lovers of His presence. Hence our stream’s foundational principles of “honoring first”, going “Low and Slow” and the oh-so-slippery slope of always “speaking things in love” can just as easily become justifications for me to bury my head in the sand. 

Watchmen are often confused with prophets because they sometimes project future outcomes based on a current trajectory. But watchmen are not prophets. For example, David Wilkerson was a watchman who repeatedly corrected those who called him a prophet. He viewed the world through the lens of scripture. He could see where we were headed and called Americans to repentance. Jeremiah on the other hand, was a prophet to whom the Lord spoke directly about Israel’s future. For 40 years he called the nation of Israel to repentance.

Israel didn’t and neither have we.

I used to write blog posts from a watchman’s perspective. Posts like Truth or Trump and Better than Ninevah remain published. Others related to situations like COVID were removed because well… “what’s done is done”. More recent posts were never published because I got cold feet. It’s much easier and palatable to proclaim God’s goodness while ignoring His severity. Rom 11:22 This was the problem in ancient Israel, a nation whose moral decline so closely mirrors that of the USA today. Jer 14:13-22, Jer 23, Jer 28

The Conviction

A few days ago, the Lord led me to Ezekiel 33. It was as if I were reading it for the first time. Immediately I felt His rod of correction.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’ Eze 33:6

I confess that I’ve put my head in the sand. Not to hide from seeing and hearing. I put it there to silence myself for fear of offending those whose souls might be required at any moment. Luke 12:15-31

Forgive me, Lord! I repent!

I’m not being a “Debbie Downer” or a “Prophet of Doom” as some are sure to say. The fruit of the spirit including the genuine joy of the Lord does not change if I face plenty, hunger, abundance, or need. Granted, my mood might change if I get a million-dollar check in the mail versus a nuclear bomb in Nashville. But the genuine joy of the Lord is not determined by worldly circumstances. James 1:2 commands us to count it all joy when facing trials that test our faith… To count is hēgéomai and means to take authority.

Count it all joy is an offensive, rather than a defensive action.

In January 2020 I taught a “biblicized” version of The Fourth Turning to a group of young missionaries in Guatemala. In a nutshell, the authors, Straus and Howe framed history as a recurring cycle of approximately 80-100 years comprised of four “Turns” (think seasons) of 20-25 years. They are 1.”The High”, 2.”The Awakening”, 3. The Unraveling and 4. The Crisis. You can buy the book on Amazon or read my synopsis here. 

Most of these 18-21-year-old “gap year” missionaries just rolled their eyes as I challenged their worldview. Others were angry because I’d called their previously prophesized dreams and plans upon which their joy was predicated into question. Less than two months later the entire world went into lockdown as COVID hit. Their dreams were squashed as they and 400 of their peers from around the globe were emergency evacuated back to the USA. Some barely got out before the borders closed. Suffice it to say that we are in a Fourth Turn now. Here are a few timely conclusions from the book.

“Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II…” “…The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule…” “…Through much of the Third Turning, we have managed to postpone the reckoning. But history warns that we can’t defer it beyond the next bend in time…”

Not since WWII, have we been at such risk for an economic collapse, unmitigated global crisis, and military conflict. Not since the Civil War have we been so divided as a nation. In the words of the World Economic Forum at Davos this year, “The collective vocabularies stored in the world’s great dictionaries didn’t appear to hold a single word, to sum up, all this strife. So here’s a new one:“

“Polycrisis“

“The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 uses the term, to explain how “present and future risks can also interact with each other to form a ‘poly-crisis’ – a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part”.

Nothing is new under the sun. Ecc 1:9 And there is a time and a season for everything. Ecc 3:1-8 Crises or Fourth Turns have come and gone and come again throughout history. More often than not they arrive just as people assume peace and security. 1 Thess 5:3 Others clearly hear the trumpet but refuse to heed the warning. Eze 33:4

Normalcy Bias is a snare in a Fourth Turning.

In any case, history teaches us that the primary determining factor in the outcome of any crisis is the individual and collective character of those upon whom the crisis falls. Sometimes God uses a crisis to produce character. Rom 5:3 In the end, Fourth Turnings, in particular, produce one of two outcomes.  Either there is a return to traditional values, religious revival, prosperity, and freedom. Or people descend into darkness, moral depravity, persecution, and bondage. That said, it is within the context of bondage that God’s promise and warning in the oft-misquoted Jer 29 applies. Hence,

Fourth Turns (crises) are not a call to build bunkers or hoard ammunition, and gold, but rather a call to repentance, fearlessness, and faith amid turmoil.

It may be worthy of note that the word “Crisis” is derived from the Greek word Krisis which means “God’s judgment.” The purpose of God’s judgment, not to be confused with His wrath, is to discipline the rebellious and bring us to repentance.

Only illegitimate children escape discipline. Heb 12:6 Heb 12:8-11

Perhps one of the hardest things for believers to accept since the fall of man is that throughout human history “Adversity makes men. Prosperity makes monsters”. -Victor Hugo- 1 Tim 6:10

We were isolated in the mountains of Honduras after COVID hit and were amazed at the number of people back in the USA who contacted us with the question, “Is this the end of days?” Suddenly everyone was curious about God and His word. What a blessing it was to have an audience comprised of previously deaf ears. Alas, COVID passed, normalcy came back into view and people lost interest in the Bible. It seems they only cared about God when faced with the prospect of their imminent demise.

Sociological data only confirms this.

According to the American Worldview Inventory 2023 “The first national study of Americans’ worldview since the COVID-19 lockdowns show that the incidence of biblical worldview has fallen to a mere 4%—a drop of one-third from the 6% recorded just three years earlier.“ Dr. Tracy F. Munsil | February 28, 2023, | CRC | 

What determines a biblical worldview? you ask. Very basic tenants of the faith. Click both hyperlinks for details.

“But that’s not me. I have a biblical worldview,” you say. And maybe you do. The question is; how could so many professing Christians be so devoid of truth? John 17:17 It would seem that what many are calling revival is more in line with a great falling away. 2 Thess 2:3

I could be wrong.

Don’t freak out. Search it out Acts 17:11

The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself. -Augustine of Hippo –

Look maybe this Watchman stuff isn’t your cup of tea. Maybe you are already one who praises the Lord whether life gives you a proverbial massage or a kick in the butt. “It’ll all pan out.” I get it. But if you value seeing and discerning the time Mat 16:1-4, then join the discussion by subscribing by email in the sidebar as I may not link every post to social media. Hardly any of our readers link to us via social media anyway. I’ll categorize future Watchman posts under Red Pill Diaries.

Categories are listed above the title of each post.

Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Mat 7:24-27

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Devotional

The Bread of Life

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Eph 4

The Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible study begins Ephesians 4 this week. Given the “season”, I’m going to jump ahead for in this blog post.

And God said, Let there be lights in the 
firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night; and let them be for signs,
and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:14.

Seasons is “mowed“: “an appointed feast”.

Specific instructions and times for these feasts were given to Moses in Leviticus 23.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Lev 23:2

Convocation is “miqra“: a “dress rehearsal”.

What many regard as obscure, obsolete Old Testament feasts are in fact the Lord’s feasts appointed 1,948 years before Go made His covenant with Abraham. Gen 17 Each of the seven feasts is a type and shadow of God’s plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Eph 1:9-10

Passover Ex 12:1-11 Lev 23:48 2023 began on April 5th at sunset. The Gospels tell us Jesus was crucified “on the day of preparation” John 19:14.  “The day of preparation” was the Jewish idiom for “Friday”.  John is referring to preparation for the Sabbath that fell during Passover week. It was not the preparation for the Passover meal that Jesus had already eaten. Mat 26:17-29 The Feast of Unleavened Bread Lev 23:6-8 begins on Passover and continues for seven days. Jesus was crucified during Passover and resurrected three days later on the Feast of First Fruits. Lev 23:10-11 The day after Passover begins the Feast of Weeks and the counting of the Omer (sheaves of wheat) for fifty days leading up to Shavuot Lev 23:15-16. Passover to Shavuot marks the beginning and end of the wheat harvest. Christians call Shavuot Pentecost because it means “fifty”. One hundred twenty people waited fifty days in the upper room until Pentecost was fulfilled in Acts 2.

When the law was given from Sinai, God appeared in a thick cloud. Exod 19 Then the Lord spoke to the Israelites from the midst of the fire Deut 4 He showed them his great fire and they heard his words from the midst it. In Jerusalem, there was the rushing of a violent wind from heaven divided tongues, as of fire, which rested upon each one of them, and the apostolic proclamation of the Gospel in tongues. Acts 2 The Old Testament Pentecost was the giving of the 1st Covenant, the Law. The New Testament Pentecost was the giving of the 2nd Covenant, the Holy Spirit.

As For Easter…

“Easter actually originated as an ancient pagan celebration of the spring equinox. In Christianity, the day was dedicated to observing the resurrection of Jesus Christ, celebrated around the time of the Jewish Passover. However, with the spread of the Gospel of Christ, early Christians who did not participate in Jewish customs eventually merged their observances with the pagan spring festival, recognizing Easter as “resurrection day.” History of Easter

The Passover meal that Jesus ate with His disciples and is repeated yearly by Orthodox Jews and Messianic believers is called the Seddar. It has fifteen steps the first of which is the removal of Leaven from the home.  Leaven (yeast) represents Egypt out of which Israel emerged into the desert. For us, it is worldliness, false teaching, sin, etc. The leaven is not to be touched so the father takes a candle for light and a feather and goes about the house sweeping the hidden leaven into a bag. When all the leaven is collected both bag and feather are burned. Of course, yeast is not found scattered in most houses today. Therefore pieces of unleavened bread are traditionally hidden like the pagan easter eggs parents hide for children today.

Jesus was removing Leaven in John 2 when He cleansed the Temple during the feast of Unleavened Bread.

It was Passover when He fed the five thousand and The Feast of Unleavened Bread when He declared

I am the bread of life. John 6

Where Passover represents our justification (the remission of sin), The Feast of Unleavened Bread represents our ongoing sanctification. Justification is an exclusive work of God. Sanctification takes place in partnership with God. Justification is instantaneous. Sanctification is ongoing as we become Holy even as He is Holy. “Holy” is to be separate from the world.

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 2 Cor 6:14-18

This is not an obsolete Old Testament ceremonial law but a New Testament command for those already justified by grace through faith. Eph 2:8-10 Our part in sweeping the leaven from our lives is illustrated by Paul in the book of Romans.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Rom 12:1-2

As for those who claim the feasts are not for today Paul is clear that they are. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.1 Cor 5:8

Leaven includes but is not limited to the thoughts, words, and actions that we do not want to acknowledge as sin. It is the worldliness we justify, rationalize, and minimize to avoid the fact that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Opposition implies stubbornness which is idolatry. 1 Sam 15:23 Active opposition looks like a violent attack.

Enmity is active opposition. James 4:4

Leaven compels us to make idols of politicians, celebrities, political parties, denominations, faith streams and wealth, etc. Mark 14:8-20 Leaven might be the music or tattoo that we think gives us the “cultural cred” we covet. We rationalize that they open doors for the gospel.

Leaven is the beloved tradition that emerges from syncretism. Syncretism pleases man in the name of God rather than God for the sake of man.

Easter 2023 at Transformation Church in Knoxville TN.

Leaven is false prophecy, false signs and wonders, and, the false teaching that deep down we suspect or even know is unbiblical.

But it tickles our ears in such a sweet way. 2 Tim 4:1-4 1 Tim 4:1

GRAVE-SUCKING / MANTLE GRABBING

Leaven confuses loyalty with faithfulness, pride with anointing, intention with action, and cognitive dissonance with faith. Leaven fuels offense and even rage when our loyalties and wrong beliefs are challenged. Leaven always seeks its own and with it approval from the world rather than God who opposes it. 1 John 2:15-16

A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Gal 5:9

I’m not a Methodist. But given that I live in Appalachia, I find the alleged connection between John and Charles Wesley, the Methodist revival, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread rather poignant. After having profound personal encounters with God, the Wesleys preached the necessity of sanctification through personal holiness in thoughts, words, and actions. This is the point for Christians during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was in this context that Paul wrote.

Now, this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Eph 4:17-32

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Chew on This.

…his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law, he meditates day and night. Psalm 1

The word “meditate” in Hebrew means to chew as a cow chews its cud. Cows have four stomach chambers. Hence every bite is thoroughly chewed four times over.

Ephesians 3:1-13

As we’ve said, unity is the underlying theme in the book of Ephesians. Paul sums up the unity between Jewish and Gentile believers in the conclusion of Ephesians chapter 2. 

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…vs 19 In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Vs 22 This is not just a fleeting epiphany.

We are God’s field, God’s building 1 Cor 3:9

The language is mysterious which is fitting because Paul calls it a mystery in Ephesians 3:3 and repeats it in verses 4, 6, and 9.  Ideological importance in a passage or book can often be identified by the number of times a word or phrase is repeated. Galatians 1:8-9 and Luke 13:1-5 are two examples. If you’ve ever read an in-depth commentary then you know that Bible scholars frequently count the number of times words are used when establishing authorship as well the primary theme. It is for this same reason that most online bibles will tell you the number of times a word occurs in the Old and New Testaments.

The mystery of which Paul writes is that before the foundation of the world God planned to save both Jew and Gentile in Jesus creating in himself one new man in place of the two. Eph 2:15 Paul says this mystery was revealed to Him by God.  And while he does not formally declare himself to be a prophet, this revelation exemplifies the nature of true prophecy which is the testimony of Jesus. Rev 19:10

Jesus is the Word. John 1

While not explicitly stated, the implication is that the depth of our understanding of the mystery is contingent upon our unity. This is more clearly illustrated in chapter 4.

…till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— Eph 4:13-15

The current denominationalism a.k.a. the fragmented church, is full of winds of doctrine, craftiness, and plotting. Even so, each one has a piece of the truth puzzle.  Unfortunately, each denomination thinks it has the whole puzzle and unity will only be achieved when everyone conforms to their piece.

The Acts 17:11 Bereans Bible Study

Cathy and I open the church doors and set up the chairs each week to make space for two or more to gather together in the name of Jesus. We study and present the pieces of the mystery that we think we’ve grasped albeit with our blurred vision and partial knowledge. 1 Cor 13:12 Others come alongside us and do the same. I think I can say that when the session ends we each walk away with more insight than we could have obtained on our own. This weekly experience lends deeper context to “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Mat 18:20 This is what we mean when we say,

We all see better when we see together.

With the theological foundation for the church now laid, Paul prepares to frame the building by summarizing the church’s ultimate purpose in Eph 7-13

Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given to me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Eph 3:7-13

It is worth noting that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter. This was after he’d met with the Ephesian elders in Miletus Acts 20:29-30. The elders wept because Paul knew he was destined for prison and eventual execution in Rome and they would see his face no more vs 38. Paul doesn’t want them to worry and mourn for him because it was God’s will that Paul suffers for them which was their glory. While many avoid talking about it, suffering is another aspect of the mystery and unity.

What most caught my eye in this chapter was that the purpose of the church is to make the manifold wisdom of God known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

1 Peter lends some insight.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Pet 1:6-9

That as a church we would believe John 1:12-13 and stand Eph 6:13 and rejoice in our suffering Rom 5:3 and conquer by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, and love not our lives even unto death Rev 12:11 and all this by faith rather than sight 2 Cor 5:7 apparently amazes the good rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. It stumps and defeats the evil ones. Eph 6:12

Certainly, these are some of the things into which angels long to look. 1 Pet 1:12

Also, consider that Angels can not be saved. The third of them that fell are already condemned with no hope of redemption. They have no experience of grace or regeneration. They can not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, or delivered from sin. And yet the remaining two-thirds are our fellow servants. Rev 19:10

The more I dig into the Word of God the more mystified and awed I become. Ephesians 3:10 should produce the fear of God. After all, we have such an important mission contingent upon unity, and yet we are so divided as a global body.

How will we ever come to the unity of the faith?!

What exactly is it that keeps us so divided? Is it envy, pride, laziness, ingratitude celebrity worship, or genuine confusion?

Maybe it’s all of the above. Or maybe we just don’t fear God. Prov 9:10

My friend Tyler and I were discussing how little we actually know about the world in which we live. Yet we go about our daily lives as if the mysteries of creation have been revealed. Many will readily admit they do not know how things work, that science is a mystery.  They just trust the scientists. Those who understand the nature of science know the absurdity of that statement. For example, while theories abound we still don’t know what electricity is.

“Why it’s a flow of colliding electrons!” you say.

Ok. But what are electrons?

A middle school science lesson.

Turns out those neat little electron orbits that they showed us in middle school aren’t accurate. Based on the findings of a guy named Heisenberg scientists can not prove that electrons don’t pop in and out of existence or bounce between dimensions.

Everyone knows that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and a cup of water freezes faster than a lake.

Amirite?

Not so fast. Scientists just learned that water can remain liquid as low as minus 47 degrees Fahrenheit. And it’s only possible in the smallest quantities.

Of course, everyone knows what gravity is.

Wrong again!

Currently, there are at least twenty different theories of gravity. Isaac Newton, the scientist who read his bible more than any other book allegedly came up with what amounts to a theory of gravitational effect when an apple fell on his head.

Speaking of gravity one of the most interesting theories known as String Theory fully supports the fact that Jesus, the Word, spoke creation into existence. Gen 1, John 1:1-3 According to String theory the subatomic particles of which the universe is composed are made of sound frequencies like individual musical notes.  Words are composed of letters that represent sounds or frequencies.

In the beginning, was the Word…

Please don’t feel pressured to leap down the aforementioned rabbit holes. My point is that we exist in a realm of mystery that we know very little about. What we do know is that any knowledge we have concerning the mysterious, manifold wisdom of God ultimately only comes by revelation.  While secular society may regard scientists as an all-seeing priesthood, many of our best inventions arose from what secularists call accidents. 

Here’s a list of 30 if you are interested.

The truth is we wouldn’t even have a thing called science were it not for God-fearing Christian men and women who saw a world governed by objective laws created by the objective lawgiver – God. They saw the complexity in the creation and knew it was designed by Him.  God veiled the glory of His design in a mystery. These men and women were compelled to search it out. Prov 25:2 Anyone who reads the life stories of men like Sir Issac Newton, Blasé Pascal, and Max Planck to name a few will clearly recognize the revelatory nature of their discoveries.

Nothing is by accident.

I suspect that the unity of the faith will only be realized when God humbles us through various means such that every member in the body of Christ realizes that all is a mystery and none of us knows anything apart from or beyond that which God gives. 1 Cor 4:7

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

It is for this reason that Paul warned in the previous verse, do not depart from what is written. 1 Cor 4:6

Believers everywhere are and always have been crying out for revival. Others say it is upon us. However, the Biblical World View has been in steady decline for years. As of 2021, only 6% of Americans were following a Biblical Worldview. From a purely scriptural viewpoint, these stats seem more indicative of a falling away 2 Thess 2:1-3 than the cusp of a major revival. Then again repentance always precedes and accompanies true revival.

Maybe we need to repent?

If I am perfectly honest when I look at the body of Christ today I see a growing number of fractures and a lot of what I call “Harry Potter Christianity” that results when people depart from what is written. I can’t help wondering if these are the times when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Tim 4:1-4

Perhaps we should ask ourselves. Do we depend on Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised would lead all of us into all truth? John 16:13 Do we take the words of Jesus seriously;  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth? John 17:17 Or are we always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 2 Tim 3:7 Do we believe He is there when two or more of us are gathered together? Or does he only speak to an anointed celebrity few that we must chase from conference to conference in the hope of receiving an impartation? If in fact, we know Jesus is in our midst shouldn’t we be hungry to embrace the royal privilege we’ve been given together and search out the matter of truth in  His Word that He breathed?

Please don’t misconstrue my constant emphasis on the Word of God. I am not minimizing any other aspect of our faith. Jesus said the gospel of the kingdom WILL be preached to all the World. Mat 24:14. The unity of the faith is a benchmark goal. That being said, if we believe that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom 10:17 then it follows that unity of the faith will only be realized in and through the Word of God. In our experience, a deeper comprehension of the mysterious manifold wisdom of God is always the fruit of such fellowship.

Chew on that.

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree

Enantiodromia – In Jesus’s Name

Enantiodromia is a Greek word that means “running in opposite ways”. Its contemporary use began when Carl Jung coined it to describe the tendency of one extreme to give birth to its polar opposite. Enantiodromia is most easily depicted in a pendulum where the extent of one swing is largely determined by the extent of the previous one. We see it in history where uber-conservative societies become licentious and vice versa. Perhaps it is most evident in Christianity and politics, especially when the two are combined.

“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” ECC 1:9

As I’ve said before, the mission field taught us a lot about the goodness and faithfulness of God amdist life-threatening situations and everything in the natural going wrong, amidst all of our earthly expectations being unfulfilled. We have come to understand that suffering is and always has been the norm for most of the world. Now we are in Greeneville Tennessee ministering to equally broken people and the as of yet unbroken one percent

whom God loves as much as the other ninety-nine.

We have found the tribulation of Rom 5:1-5 and the patience of James 1:1-4  to be vital in our understanding of the word of God and God’s ultimate plan. We have purposed to walk all of this out in the context of Prov 3:5-8. God always provided exactly what we needed to survive despite our not having a paycheck for 6 years. He guided us to whom we should serve and provided for them too. He will continue to provide because

He is the provider.

The proverbial midnight hour is His favorite time to come through.

We have learned the “name it and claim it” prosperity theme that undergirds so much of contemporary theology often results in confusion and frustration because people ask amiss that they may spend it on their pleasures James 4:2-4. That might be a hard word for those who have never experienced the conditions in which the majority of His bride currently resides. We have seen a similar error in gluttony for signs, wonders, and demonstrations of power. I sometimes wonder; is it unbelief or are people just bored with T.V.? Jesus did not come to entertain us. He came to destroy the works of the enemy. Interestingly He was rebuking the Pharisees  when he  declared “a wicked and perverse generation seeks after a sign.” Later in the same chapter, He warned about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees who in addition to being the religious leaders of the day were also opposing, political factions. It was amidst this political and religious division that the Sons of Zaddock set themselves apart from the leavenous religious and political turmoil to preserve the genuine Jewish calendar and scriptures at Qumran.

Qumran

We have learned that the purpose of prayer is for us to align with God’s will – not to align His will with ours. We have learned that His will is best even when it seems to fail in our eyes and external circumstances appear tragic. We have learned that His will has little if anything to do with our comfort in this life, that earthly comfort and prosperity are incidental to His purpose.

Tribulation is not.

We have learned that the Christian walk is NOT about OUR blessing. It is a stripping away of our self-centered desire to be blessed. It is a 1 Corinthians 3:15 burning up our cravings and fluff. A Heb 12:27 shaking of our silly significance, self-image, performances, facades, and narcissism to reveal the Romans 7:24 body of death that hangs around all of our necks for which God gave His only begotten Son so that all who believe would be saved and walk in Romans 8:1-4 freedom.

We have come to understand that our life is not about OUR identity.

It’s about His. Col 3:3

Today we look at ourselves in the mirror and see that much dross remains, much that needs to be stripped, much in us that still needs to die. This dying is a vital step in our continued healing. James wrote “let patience have her perfect work so you may be complete desiring nothing”, ‘Nothing’ is mēdeís – desiring nobody, nothing. Not one man or woman or anything. We understand that this makes zero sense to those who presume to teach and promise prosperity, justice, and Heaven on earth now. It’s a genuine paradox until we take that first step in obedient faith. We have friends whom we deeply love and who insist on preaching these very things that we have already obediently rejected – the things that Jesus rejected. Luke 14:26. As scary, enigmatic, and lonely as this sounds it is not because He doesn’t want us to have anyone or anything. Rather He wants His desires to become our desires. Psalm 37:4 He wants to give us everything – to have what He has. He can’t do that if our hearts, and minds, are full of our own cravings, and ideas about how things ought to be.

His will won’t be done in our lives if we are fighting Jesus in Jesus’s name.

The Pendulum

People often cite Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses in 1571 as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Yet the English Reformation preceded it by 40 years when Mary Queen of Scots, a devout Catholic, began ordering the deaths of hundreds of protestant heretics in Jesus’s name.

Mary Queen of Scots

John Hooper the Bishop of Gloucester was among the first. The queen somewhat graciously offered Hooper a pardon provided he would publicly recant his anti-Catholic views. He refused and was sentenced to be burned at the stake. As the story goes, high winds on the day of his execution made it hard to get a suitable fire started and only Hooper’s legs and groin were burned.  One might think he’d have been tempted to change his mind and recant. Instead, he cried out,

“For the love of God, good people, let me have more fire!”

Hooper defiantly beat his chest until his arm fell off. He did the same with the other until it also fell off.

His hair burned, his eyes melted and he died.

So much for John 13:35

Eventually, these stubborn Hooper-inspired reformers prevailed and became the dominant political force under Queen Elizabeth, a devout Protestant, and the Church of England was born. Ironically, this new and allegedly doctrinally sound church held onto some Catholic traditions like “vestments” (Priestly garb) along with some other liturgical traditions. Some believers became incensed. They saw it as clear evidence that the spirit of the antichrist was in their midst. So, they split from the apostate Church of England, and the Puritan or the “Precisionist” movement was born. The Church of England’s clergy were quite offended of course. And it didn’t take long for the very people who had survived Mary’s reign of terror to begin arresting, jailing, torturing, hanging, drawing, quartering, castrating, and disemboweling their Puritan brethren

in Jesus’s name.

Some fled to Amsterdam in 1608 where the Lutheran Reformation was in full swing and the myriad core protestant denominations were formed. Among these were my own ancestors, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins who eventually left for the New World on the Mayflower. John Alden was among the men who signed the Mayflower Compact. He served as assistant governor of the Plymouth colony from 1631 until his death in 1687.

He persecuted Quakers and Baptists in Jesus’s name.

Two years ago Amos 3:7 was foundational for those wanting to believe in a God-ordained, prophetically declared election outcome.

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”

Agreed!

Ironically the book of Amos tells the story of Israel falling into idolatry and hypocrisy during a time of political stability and prosperity.  While there is no doubt that Donald Trump was elected according to God’s will in 2016, the same biblical principle applies to the election of Joe Biden in 2020 because

God (not man) establishes Kings. 

Meanwhile, we have learned that the enemy uses human things to pervert God’s things and God’s things to make the enemy’s things look Godly. Mat 10:16

“If you dance with the devil, then you haven’t got a clue, for you think you’ll change the devil, but the devil changes you.”

Milo Yiannopoulos Bathes in Pig’s Blood at First Conservative Pro-Trump Art Show

The inane politicization of the Christian faith has always resulted in absurd, blasphemous and sometimes dangerous theology. It always has and always will divide the body of Christ from Him and each other. Each swing of the pendulum produces more Mary Queens of Scots and John Hoopers. At best we will remain divided until we realize that we are one body, one bride united in the same mind and same judgment that He intends to make spotless and that His Kingdom is as Jesus clearly stated,

“Not of this world.” John 18:36

If it were His disciples would have fought and killed for it as when 1000 Sicarii Jewish Patriots tried and failed to make Israel great again at Masada in 73 AD. Most of them ended up killing their wives and children and then themselves rather than surrender.

Hence we are told to forgive and pray for our enemies, not kill them. Jesus came to conquer sin and death, to transform individual hearts and minds, not governments. He came to conform us to the image of His Son.

That Image is not an American

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. Acts 10:34-35

WWII German soldier returning to find his family and home is gone forever.
Vietnam war
Vietnam war
Afghan war victim

It occurred to me as I traveled to so many places on the mission field that at any time my government could label the people I served as enemies and my children could be sent to kill them. My grandmother was a missionary in China and left just before the Japanese invaded.

Today we have Christian Nationalists prepping to fight China or Russia. Meanwhile, I live in a Tennessee county that was divided during the Civil War. Today Christian Nationalists and Marxian Leftists are discussing the likleyhood of yet another one to be fought in Jesus’s name. At some point, the body of Christ needs to own the hypocrisy of singing “God Bless America” while cheering the bombing of His people to hell in Jesus’s name. Like it or not we were not given the ministry of political transformation. We are given 2 Corinthians 5 ministry of reconciliation.

In Jesus’s name

Today the Church has so many false gospel flavors that align with what entitled itching ears want to hear. We have the left-wing WOKE gospel with its neo-Marxist roots. We have the right-wing replacement theology that makes the church into God’s chosen over the rejected Jews and the USA into Jerusalem. We have Christian nationalism and progressive Christianity that mix the aspects above in varying degrees. There are Christian witches and New-Age Christians. We have Interfaith, Chrislam, and the Perennialism of Oprah and Richard Rohr. We have a prosperity gospel, grave sucking and canceling racism by the authority of Gandalf. We have the Vatican siding with globalists, validating the New Age and denying the existence of Hell. We even have emerging AI Christians ready to evangelize those worshiping an AI God in the metaverse. Instead of screening our views in accordance with Paul’s warning in Galatians 1:8-9, we divide ourselves based on our subjective opinions of how the world ought to be and the resulting constructs of God’s and our identities.

Today a few of the previously fervent “Trump prophets” are saying that Trump lost in 2020 because America and especially God’s people did not turn from their 2 Chron 7:14 wicked ways. Maybe it’s just me but I really didn’t need a prophet to tell me that. God has always given a nation its leaders based on the righteousness of the people.

2 Chron 7:14 has always applied to God’s people first even though we often apply it to everyone but ourselves.

He will heal our land if we repent.

Repentance for the body of Christ begins with asking ourselves, “Is Jesus being lifted up, or is someone else being glorified in His name?”  “Am I really praying “Thy will be done”? or do I want my will done in Jesus’s name? Are we being led by Holy Spirit as we mediate on God’s word? Or are we being led by books written and promoted by celebrity pulpits? Do we believe what God has already said?

Or do we believe God changes in accordance with what we want to hear?

We have justified our blood-thirsty patriotism with our opposition to abortion. We pointed the finger and demanded repentance from those who don’t even know Jesus. Now we cheer over the repeal of Roe V Wade. But Roe V Wade never was a law. Neither is its repeal. It has only clarified the division between those who would never choose abortion and those who always will. Meanwhile, we remain one nation under God, subject to His discipline in Jesus’s name.

As a nation, we are perverting the Imago Dei by sexualizing children, normalizing paraphilias, and following the exact path of reprobates whom Paul described in Rom 1:18-32 and Jeremiah rebuked for 40 years. We shake our heads and roll our eyes in disgust when we learn that some schools in the so-called Bible belt provide litter boxes for kids who identify as “Furries” and send our kids back to school the next day.

Our silence about the hard things guards our comfort. Our willingness to cheer others who contend with evil preserves our vicarious self-righteousness.  

We sing and pray and cry out for revival but we won’t sweep the leaven from His temple and our own lives. We are far too concerned with preserving our grandiose illusions about our identities. We won’t allow, let alone invite God to search and try us so we can truly heal. If we are biblically literate and even a little honest we see that the USA fits the type and shadow of Ninevah in the Book of Nahum or maybe Babylon in Revelation 18.

We’d rather imagine ourselves as a repentant Israel under Cyrus in Isaiah 45.

While I wish him no harm, and might even vote for him if he runs again, I often wonder if God won’t take Donald Trump out completely for the sake of His biblically confounded bride. That so many continue to proclaim any political party or candidate as a fulfillment of the gospel of the Kingdom is absurd. What frustrates me most is that political leaven is just one of many reasons why our witness is so powerless and that only 6% of Americans today have a biblical word view. It is why the left correlates Christians with Nazis, atheists call us crazy,

And young believers deconstruct in droves.

Listen, I have no issue with those who want to improve our country and way of life. After all, God calls both politicians and plumbers. I happen to think plumbers are more valuable and honorable. But if politics is your call then go for it. I do have a problem with those who believe the Bible and God’s plan are about MAGA, Social Justice, or any other false gospel. Those who would question or mock my political atheism should consider Galatians 1:8-9 and maybe do a word study on “accursed” – “Anathema“

Our experience on the mission field and countless others like us is proof that God is true to His word, that the true Gospel is the only answer for humanity and He preserves us in accordance with His will despite external circumstances. The abundant life is found in deliverance from all that holds us captive, Luke 4:18, the wounds that cause us to devour one another in Jesus’s name. Psalm 147:3 That abundance often comes with repentance amidst tremendous suffering and loss. Those who insist on fighting an earthy battle in the flesh, against the flesh for their best life now may soon find themselves fighting against God Himself in Jesus’s name. These will almost certainly be caught in a snare. Luke 21:35 What do you think? Will we learn from the past and repent before it’s too late? Will they know us by our endurance and love? Or will there be more John Hoopers before we are done? Mathew 10:16-18

Enantiodromia

Get off the pendulum.

Obey His Word In Jesus’s Name John 13:35

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Tennessee

New Wine

“In the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new wine.” – Hillsong Worship-

So we made it to Greeneville Tennessee, a place that five months ago we didn’t even know existed when God so clearly called us here.  Everything that could have and should have gone wrong during our transition didn’t. Every good thing that shouldn’t happen so easily did. We are now living in the friendliest place I’ve been to date.  Even the most menial, and in my case, normally irritating tasks like getting the water turned on and opening a bank account turned out to be the most fun I have had in a while.  The bank was the best because they served gourmet chocolate chip cookies and coffee. I know. I’m like a little kid. The point is we are adjusting remarkably well. Still, there are periodic reminders that I am still in the process of reentry from the mission field. 

Yesterday I finally realized that “Ingles” is not a Hispanic store for English speakers. 

Holston Home where I now work is one of the most incredible places I’ve been.  It began as an orphanage over one hundred years ago.  Today it is a place of healing for traumatized children and sometimes their families.  It’s a job for which I am particularly qualified. Not because of my professional counseling background but rather because each day that I work I come face to face with my broken teenage self who grew up to become an even more broken parent and eventually healed.

Those who regularly read these posts know my walk with the Lord began in jail.  What many don’t know is that my former wife also went to jail and our two children went into foster care.  My ex-wife was released before me and so the kids went home with her. But she was broken beyond repair.  I was told that the court wanted to place the kids with me but I wouldn’t be out for another year.  One day, I was summoned to the guard shack.  My lawyer was on the phone.  She told me that something horrific had happened to my children as a result of my ex-wife’s lifestyle and acquaintances. The courts wanted to terminate her parental rights but according to the law, they could not terminate one parent’s rights without terminating both. I realized at that moment that there was only one way to end the cycle. 

I told my lawyer to terminate my parental rights. 

It was ten years before I heard of their whereabouts.  Needless to say, I paid a huge emotional price and I questioned my decision through the years. Today my daughter is married with a son and works as a manager for an import-export company.  Last I heard my son builds cellos for a living, is studying pre-med, and has a girlfriend he loves. 

My ex-wife died as a result of IV drug use. 

I’m not sure if the Lord brought me to Holston Home because I know what it means to be broken like the children here or because I was broken like their parents.

Maybe it’s both.

The boys with whom I work like that I’m a former Marine, especially those that need to borrow my self-control. That’s code for physical restraint. I guess it’s cooler to be taken down by an Ex-Marine than a five-foot female.

Of course, that is also a key to what ails them.

We got COVID shortly after returning to Kauai from Honduras and I took it like a hardcore former Marine who knows how to stuff any and everything he feels. I even interviewed for my current position at its peak. I felt horrible.

“If you like me now, you’ll really like me without COVID!” I joked via Whatsapp

The qualifying question during the interview seemed to be “how would you react if a kid called you every name in the book?” I said something to the effect of

“Why I’d feel right at home.”

Humor has always been a key to my resilience. But perhaps you see the connection between that and what ails the boys.  

It was 4 am in Hawaii and near the end of my bout with COVID.  I was sitting in a recliner because it hurt too much to stay in bed. My fever was breaking and I was getting the chills.  The temperature outside was 70 degrees.  I was bundled up in sweat pants and a thick hoody under a comforter but I just couldn’t get warm. I was shivering and shaking.

Sometimes it takes a physical affliction to disarm us and reveal more truth. 

All at once, I was 15 again, the same age as my grandson Elijah, the same age as the hurt broken boy I recently “lent my self-control”.  It was Christmas Day 1979. I’d been living alone in a house with three finished walls and no heat.  It was minus twenty degrees outside and maybe 20 degrees inside. Everyone in town knew my situation but no one said anything, let alone did anything. I became the “bad kid” that everyone wanted to keep their kids away from lest I corrupt them. Now I was a lonely kid under a blanket, desperately trying to keep warm. I remember trying to be tough – trying to be hard as I strengthened the imaginary armor I’d created to protect me from a brutal world. I stoked the fires of my anger as I very intentionally transformed all my grief into rage. Anger became the energy source that kept me warm and safe. I would eventually use that anger to throw my father through a wall when he showed up and took a swing at me during an argument.

I began shivering and sobbing like a little child in the recliner. I tried to choke back the tears at first but I’ve learned through the years to let the tears flow when they come. I must have been pretty loud because I woke Cathy up and soon she was by my side holding me and weeping with me as I choked out the memory between sobs.  The connection was made, we prayed. Healing came with a deeper revelation of why we were going to Tennessee.

I sometimes joke that most kids run away from their parents but I was so bad that my parents ran away from me. Sometimes it’s genuine humor.  Most times it’s a sign of some residual armor that needs to be stripped away and tossed. That’s just part of the continued process of sanctification as we are being conformed to the image of Christ. The fact is that I was a deeply hurt and broken child well into adulthood.

There’s no room for armor and false pretenses in the Christian walk.

To this day I don’t really know, let alone understand what happened to my parents – to my family apart from generations of bitterness and unforgiveness.  I once asked my dad as an adult, if there was one thing about his life that he could go back and change; what would that be?  “I wouldn’t have had ” F-ing” kids!” he replied. 

“You guys ruined my marriage.”

I love my dad. He died several years ago. I got the call while leading a middle school process group of 13 and 14-year-old boys.  Ironically they were complaining about their fathers.  “What’s wrong Mr. Gray?” they asked as I hung up the phone. “My dad just died,” I replied.

The therapeutic poignance was deafening. 

It’s both fascinating and faith-building to watch the Lord direct my steps and turn even the hardest, most hurtful things into pure gold. I hope you can see that and don’t give way to sadness or worse – pity as you read.  Compassion literally means “to suffer with”. It is the ability to identify with and join in the suffering of others. Compassion is the fruit of suffering from which the world tells us to flee. 

Compassion is what qualifies us to participate in God’s plan.

It was about a week after my COVID-ridden interview that I started thinking about my old childhood friend Craig Hammerly. “That’s weird,” I thought. I hadn’t thought of him for years.  Craig was the unauthorized friend with whom I used to play in the woods between our houses when we were 6 or 7 years old. I say “unauthorized” because Craig was that “bad kid”.  My mother forbade our friendship. So I’d grab my Tonka dump truck, excavator, and matchbox cars and meet Craig secretly to play.  Craig didn’t have any toys so it was up to me.  I remember I’d always be trying to build something. Craig just wanted to crash the race cars into the Tonka trucks and destroy everything. It was kind of irritating but I rolled with it. Craig lived alone with his grandfather. Rumor had it that he “did things to Craig” – the kind of things that people didn’t talk about let alone do anything about.  Craig got held back and we grew apart by the time I was in the third grade.  Soon he became the school bully that everyone was afraid to fight. Craig couldn’t read but he sure knew how to punch. Elementary school mythology had it that “he’d knocked out a high school kid in a fight. Heck, even the teachers were afraid of him.” His identity became the kid who could beat up anyone – except maybe his grandfather. Craig moved away sometime before the 6th grade and I never heard of him after. It seemed kind of random that I’d feel prompted to look him up on the internet after 50 years. But there he was. His picture was all over the internet. It was no surprise when I learned that Craig, who called himself Damien Knight had been on drugs and in and out of jail for most of his life.  He’d just been arrested again a week or so before.

Craig beat his roommate to death with his fists

Maybe you come from one of those miraculously functional families that loved Jesus and each other. Maybe you are cringing or weeping as you read this. Maybe you’re scratching your head and trying to make sense of seemingly disconnected albeit traumatic data points. Maybe you just think I’m crazy. Or maybe you recognize that “there but for the grace of God go I”. One of the many ways that God speaks to us in and through the circumstances of our own lives – past and present. When I look at Craig I see myself minus Jesus. There’s no going back for guys like Craig and me only forward. But maybe I can help boys – boys like we once were to choose a different path. What I know for sure is that I had no idea why God told us to move to Greeneville Tennesee. It was such a blind leap of faith that part of me questioned my hearing at times. Today it is clear what God is doing or at least what he’s continuing to do in my life. It’s what He’s always been doing. He’s crushing and pressing.

He’s making new wine.

I don’t know what Craig’s future holds. I do know that with God all things are possible. I know that God used prison to save my eternal life and begin the transformation that resulted in the wild adventure that is my life today. Of course, I didn’t know it at first. I know the goal is to count it all joy in the midst of trials and testing. But let’s face it. The crushing and pressing hurts and all we want to do at first is to make it stop. Most of us are doing well if we can count it all to joy to have passed through them. Still, every day I am excited to see what God weaves in and through my life and where he places me as a living stone fitly framed in His house. I hope you can do the same.

I pray Craig can do the same.

Maranatha.

Brian and Cathy Gray Honduras Continues

Peeling the Onion and Learning to Abide

Still Growing Down in Honduras

The name “Gray Hope Missionaries” has occasionally caused a few eyebrows to rise.  “What does that even mean?” they ask with a familiar reticence in their voice. I’ll admit it does sound a bit self-centered. I originally coined the title with the idea of it being a conversation starter. That’s manipulation code for initiating an evangelistic or “support us” sales pitch.

We all know God’s will requires funding.

Amirite?

Gray is the color between black and white, light and dark. It’s how I imagine hope. It’s also a Scotch Irish name that literally means hope. According to Google, the family crest which may or may not be my family crest, is an anchor.

That we live in the gray is another way of saying we see as in a glass darkly.

We need as much hope as we can get.

If you ask a missionary what life on the mission field is like you will often get an oral or written narrative along the lines of our most recent Hope In Time Newsletter, the ministry with whom we currently serve. Yes, we really do what we say. That’s not the point.  Increasingly, we find ourselves cringing at what inevitably ends up looking like horn-tooting, self-promotion. It’s a Catch 22.  We can’t be accountable to supporters without pictures of us doing what we say we do. But then it’s hard to direct the reader’s attention to God while staring at our mugs amidst a story about some tin we just nailed.  

I’ve come to almost despise the drudgery of self-promotion if only because it’s not biblical. Mat 6:1-4  When I think back to the marketing videos I regularly produced until two years ago I am embarrassed that I cultivated so much narcissism and self-aggrandizement. Yet narcissism and embellishment are just good business these days. They are expected and even praised in our consumer culture. That this is accompanied by a corresponding subconscious distrust of anyone asking for money seems rather ironic. That we associate meekness and humility with failure, and grandiosity with success, may offer some insight into why our culture has so little wisdom and discernment and continues to select psychopaths as leaders.  

But I digress.

In my experience, being a missionary has been more about coming to terms with things that people preoccupied with the first world rat race never have time or perhaps the desire to think about. 

I liken it to peeling an onion.

We began with peeling away our previous assumptions about ourselves, missions work, God, His Word and the world, as well all the ethical dilemmas that result from pride-ridden dreams of being a “world changer”.

This is counterintuitive as we are taught that success is contingent upon one’s ability to portray it.

Next came a season of preaching one thing and doing another. In my case that looked like talking about abiding while franticly striving to live up to prophetic words about my being a “world changer”.

Turns out telling people they are “world changers” is also a marketing strategy.

This recurring motif frequently ends in missionary burnout. Either we learn that,

“His strength is made perfect in weakness. We would rather boast in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon us.  For when we are weak, then we are strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 

or we quit. 

This may seem simplistic to those whose careers and prosperity are the fruit of their dependency on God. But try it after slaying prosperity on the altar. This is where we encounter our inner Judas.

Mary, therefore, took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” John 12:3-6

The temptation to do everything apart from the literal commands of Jesus can be strong. There’s always an excuse. I have learned that given a severe enough tragedy or perceived inequity, and there always is, darn near any worldly strategy can be justified in support of financing God’s will.

Yet Jesus assured us there will be no human solution to the world’s suffering and problems. That includes poverty, climate change, and injustice to name a few. The Christian walk is not about world-changing effort and success let alone how God uses the almighty “us” to do it. It’s about being broken as we learn we can not. Only brokenness teaches us to be utterly dependent upon Jesus. That is the kingdom definition of success.

It begins with accepting the abject silliness of our self-imagined significance. John 15:1-17

“You can do nothing” is not hyperbole. “Nothing” means “nothing”. Hence, I’m thinking a better word for “missionary” might be

“Abidinary” – one who abides in the vine.

In our case, becoming an “abidinary” has meant dwelling both literally and prophetically in the wilderness. This has been especially true since moving into the mountains when the entire world was locked down. Our driver’s licenses expired and we don’t have a car.  Every time we are tempted to think it is coming to an end, another mutation and mutant worldly narrative kicks in. We are stunned and amazed at what the world has become and is becoming. It seems that everything we knew could happen – but probably wouldn’t – is happening. Maybe you can relate. Each time we learn that normal isn’t coming back the Lord brings us back into the Book of Exodus. We shed another onion layer as we look into the type and shadow of our own impatience, impertinence, and ingratitude.  Sometimes we are at the Springs of Marah in Exodus 15 grumbling that the living water is not sweetened to our taste.  Other times we are in Exodus 32 carving a golden calf 2.0.  Our calf isn’t made of gold but steak dinners and dreams of RV living while touring the US.

Meanwhile, God keeps placing us at the proverbial entrance to the Leviticus 8:35 tent.

For the record, I am not claiming to be a Levitical Priest.

Rather there is just so much history and depth in the original Tabernacle and Priesthood. Leviticus 8 is about the consecration and ordination of the priests. Many believers discount the Old Testament, especially Leviticus. “That was the old covenant,” they say. “Only the new one applies today.”  And let’s be honest. Detailed descriptions of donning one hundred pounds of priestly garb before tying a bull to the altar, slaughtering it in the heat, and spreading the blood and guts around can be boring and well…gross. 

Still, everything points directly to Jesus and lends greater depth to our understanding of Him and our relationship with Him. 

The bull was first and foremost symbolic of the priest tying himself to the altar. What took place there was a prophetic depiction of Jesus who would be both the final and perfect sacrifice as well as the high priest who offered it. It was symbolic of the depth of what is required if indeed we offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Rom 12:1-2.

Meanwhile, we sing “Come to the altar” as if it were an invitation to hug Santa Claus.

The altar is an invitation to tie ourselves up, be slain and die.

The tying, which is submission, is up to us. The slaying is a job for the High Priest. That’s Jesus. Anyone who has ever slaughtered a bull knows the sheer brutality, labor and gore involved. That the same sacrifice was immediately repeated with a ram only makes the scene seem more burdensome and intense. We may not slaughter animals as a propitiation for sin today. But shouldn’t our alter calls reflect the same sober intensity? Interestingly, Lev 8:3 lends deeper context to the scene when we consider that the entire congregation was required to be present. 

This was church. 

The Levitical Priests were just getting started.

“And you shall not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for it will take seven days to ordain you. As has been done today, the Lord has commanded to be done to make atonement for you. At the entrance of the tent of meeting you shall remain day and night for seven days, performing what the Lord has charged, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.” Lev 8:33-35

There is mind-numbing, soul-shaking, typological, depth to this for those who understand. Suffice it to say that in addition to the wilderness, this is the place where God has repeatedly placed Cathy and me for the better part of two years. It is an uncomfortable place, albeit an often joyful place, a paradoxical place filled with futility and hope and the realization that our best efforts are analogous to a finger painting by a three-year-old presented to his father. Perhaps the desire to please God alone would qualify as an acceptable sacrifice. But then who can honestly say they do that? Hence, the bible says our best efforts are filthy rags. It seems more likely that our worldly displays before man for which people so often praise us has become our reward in full. Peeling the onion has shown us that

The counterfeit of true worship and sacrifice is the worship of one’s own reflection in the eyes of another and as we might imagine it in the eyes of God.

We are the tabernacle today. The tent entrance is symbolic of the place of coming to terms with ourselves as God reveals the deepest parts of ourselves in answer to prayer. Residual parts we don’t like and wish were not there. It is always parts we wish were not there that need to be cut away, discarded or burned. The altar is hard work. But the hardest part is in the submission to waiting.  

The entrance to the tent is a most necessary place.

It is at the entrance to the tent of our tabernacle that we wrestle with drudgery, immobility, and loneliness. We are all strangers in a strange land. But Honduras is a place where no matter how low and slow we go we will never be seen as equal, a part of, or the same. We are gringos. We are opportunity and blessing, consumers and cash. Sometimes we are bipedal ATMs. The deafening silence so devoid of true fellowship at the tabernacle door can produce the temptation to retrieve what was slain and return to comfort in the land of the prospering dead. We are here for seven days, however long or short a time that may actually be, according to His will and “so that (we) do not die.” There may be a different season and assignment on the horizon. In the meantime, this is what it looks like to learn to abide. John 15:5 

We are “Gray Hope Abidinaries”

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Uncategorized

Maranatha ( ) Maranatha

I know it’s Christmas and depending on the audience, “Merry Christmas” can be a sincere wish, an act of defiance, or a virtue signal. As for us, Marantha seems a more fitting greeting this year.   

It’s been about a month since our little mission cabin was destroyed in an Iota landslide. In a few days, it will be exactly a year since God called us out of the City of Refuge into the mountains here.

To say that we loved our little cabin would be an understatement for sure.  Of course, we always knew our time there would come to an end.  That awareness only added to the sacredness. Ironically, last year, I wrote that Water brought us here. I guess it’s only fitting that water-soaked earth should take us out.

I ended that post with Proverbs 3:5-6.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

Like a lot of people, we’ve had our times of wrestling with God this year. Perhaps you can relate. “Why Lord did you bring us here only to lock us down in our house for 13 out of every 14 days.” Yet “Why?” is the cry of spoiled children. “What are you doing Lord?” is the only valid one.  The only thing that came to mind each time I asked was the word “preserve”.  Cathy heard “worship me”. Meanwhile, each time we stopped wrestling with God over our situation, let go, and focused on Him and His word, He’d bring His purpose into our lives.

I can’t describe the confusion I experienced as I walked down the road that morning and realized that our house was completely gone then saw the two boulders laying side by side in the exact place where our heads would have been had we chosen to sleep there that night.

I did get part of an answer to my question for the year.

The Lord had directed our steps and preserved us.

The other part came from Jacob. The story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32 has always been one of my favorites.   It was during our morning devotions the other day that the word “preserved” emerged again in verse 30. I’d never really noticed it before. We looked it up and found the original Hebrew word is “Natsal”. 

It means to “deliver, rescue and save.

“Natsal” also means to strip.

We had been stripped of everything but the clothes on our backs and we were homeless in the third world.  And yet a strange supernatural peace enveloped us as well as an even stronger bond between us as husband and wife. 

That bond and peace remain with us now.

It is a peace that comes with the reassurance that His hand is indeed upon us and the understanding that true worship is trusting Him no matter what. We did. We do. If we leave this earth tomorrow it is only because our appointed time has arrived.

In the meantime, He will preserve us.

Like most full-time missionaries we’ve had our share of weird harrowing experiences. One thing we have observed is that life goes on as normal until suddenly it doesn’t. One minute your driving down the road singing silly songs then staring down the barrels of rifles or threatened with spears in the next. In any case, facing one’s imminent demise is always surreal.  One thing is certain. All of life as we know it will one day be swept away. As our 78-year-old friend, Maria just said,

“He gives and takes away.”

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Mat 6:25-27

It didn’t take long for us to release all our worldly possessions that were buried beneath mud and wreckage.  The ease with which we did this surprised everyone especially us.  A few days later our Honduran friends asked us to come to their house.  When we arrived we found clothing and other things that the community had painstakingly dug up and washed for us. 

They even dug my drone and a pouch full of Cathy’s special heirloom jewelry she’d made 40 years ago out of three feet of mud.

The love was priceless and palpable even if our hearts sank under the renewed burden of stuff.  

That sounds crazy. I know.

What are you doing Lord?

While we are certain more will be revealed, at this point, the joy of a James 1:2-4 testing that increased our faith and the contentment described by Paul in Phil 4:11-13 appear to be the biggest takeaway right now. It’s one thing to read and know the word. Living is is another.

Since then we’ve been consumed with helping those less fortunate than ourselves. If you follow us and or Hope In Time Ministries on FaceBook then you know what we’ve been up to.  As for our welfare, we have a fully furnished house to stay in until March 1st.

We have no idea where we are going after that. Mat 6:25-27.

The devastation here can be mind-numbing and the temptation to check out is real.

Yet on this day, our hearts go out to so many in the 1st world.  Those grasping for the material. Those praying that their old lives will be restored and those with all hope in a political candidate. Those with the same hope in a vaccine. Those who remain terrified and angry about so many things beyond their control. Those consumed by the cares of this world and are blind.

To those I say, “there is a better way”.

I’m not a prophet, fortune teller, or seer but I’m guessing that events in the coming weeks and years are going to draw many to the Lord and cause others to fall away. I believe there is a message in the recent events of our lives that applies to all.

Everyone on earth has a world view.  Everyone frames their lives accordingly. Every world view is framed or bracketed by unprovable assumptions regarding one’s origin and destiny. It is on these assumptions that we all place our trust and fill the space in between. That so many today are thoroughly consumed with anxiety and fear over things that they can not control let alone understand is not the result of events between the brackets.  

They are a result of bad bracketing.  

Maranatha is an Aramaic word that depending on how it is pronounced, means “Jesus has come” and “Jesus is coming.”  It is the gospel of the Kingdom condensed into one word. It is the truth claim that brackets the life of every true follower of Christ regardless of how messed up things might be in the space in between. It is the truth claim that brackets our existence and supports everything we do whether or not we have a place to lay our heads. Let’s face it. “Hard” is a relative term. This past year has been hard for everyone. Yet, while Jesus did not promise freedom from suffering, He did promise peace.  That peace is contingent upon our response within the brackets. 

Maranatha ( ) Maranatha!

He came. He is coming. He knows you by your name.

Be Merry.

March – November 2020
Brian and Cathy Gray Uncategorized

Truth or Trump?

I recently saw a headline that 43% of evangelicals think Donald Trump should be removed from office.  We know others who have declared him to be a modern-day Cirrus. I’ve had different opinions at different times but honestly,

I’ve never met the man. 

All I know is what I see, hear and read in the media.  

I write a blog for the Adventures in Missions GAP year squad that we coach called The Squirrel Pole.  A squirrel pole is a survival food trap that I learned about when I was a US Marine. 

Its based on the idea that everything in nature naturally takes the path of least resistance.  A squirrel is perfectly capable of running straight up a tree.  But place branch laden with wire nooses at an angle against the trunk and the stupid squirrel will hang itself every time.

Another squirrel poll upon which people hang themselves is the reliance on others to do their thinking for them.

I used to trade world currencies on the FOREX.

That’s when I learned the world is not the world I had learned about in school. It makes sense. The father of lies is the god of it.

As it turns out the average American’s world view is shaped by a media whose narrative is controlled by six corporations. That’s not just so called “fake news”. That’s all news.

The first thing I learned as a trader was, know your own biases, do your own analysis and emotion is the enemy of analysis. 

People are easily manipulated by what is commonly known as confirmation bias. Brokers leverage confirmation bias to take money away from nonprofessional traders who dream of getting rich quick.

They call these nonprofessionals “dumb money”.

This is how it works. The broker begins by “pumping” a stock or other financial instrument through internet and television. They tell everyone why “you’d better hurry before it’s too late because this one is a sure thing!” Dumb money is looking for a sure thing and hearing “it’s a sure thing” confirms what they want to hear. So, dumb money rushes in to buy before the price goes up. Of course, this drives the price up at warp speed. Dumber money tries to jump on the “moving train” and the price goes up faster until it hits a target predetermined by the broker who probably owns the biggest chunk.

When it hits the mark, the broker might short the stock or buy an “option” before closing his original position and collecting the profit. Of course, some of the dumb money sees the price action, panics and sells before they lose everything. That makes the price drop faster and more people jump off the “moving train” and sell to cover their losses. When the price gets low enough the original broker reverses his position and collects the profit from that trade too. This goes on all day every day that markets are open. What is important to understand is that media drama moves markets. While the public separates into tribes, fights with each other over what they believe is the correct moral side of what they think is the real issue; smart money is busy making money.

For example, gun control is always hot button issue pumped by the press. In June 2016 Barack Obama talked about a possible assault weapons ban. The media pumped a false pending executive order narrative. Guess what happened next? Gun lovers panicked. Assault weapons and ammunition sales went through the roof. Smart money made money again.

Confirmation bias makes lying easy. Confirmation bias makes us easy to manipulate.

World leaders have always used it to manipulate populations for their own gain.

Paul Joseph Goebbels was Adolf Hitler’s Minister of propaganda said;

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Know your own confirmation biases.

Otherwise you’re sure to get played.

Why am I telling you all this in a missionary blog?

Adolf Hitler had motto.

“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.”

There is a huge cultural and spiritual war in progress for the hearts and minds of the generation that many of us refer to as youth. Some of you are youth.

The winner gets to determine “Truth”

Deception is the Devil’s number one game.

And Your emotions are a primary tool in Hell’s efforts to manipulate and control you.

In Mat 22 people were trying to trap Jesus into making a political statement about taxation, politics, and Rome so they could kill him.  It was a total set up.  But Jesus wasn’t dumb. Cesar’s image was on the money. So He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s. 

 The question is; who’s image do you bear? 

If it’s God’s then shouldn’t you be rendering all of yourself onto Him?

I recently heard a preacher ask; “Why do we get so upset when we see the world acting like the world?”  That’s what the world does.  Even more; why are we so focused on changing the world by worldly means? 2 Tim 3 seems clear. Things are going to get worse before they get better. As Christians we are called to be in the world not of it. We are called to be Holy which means “set apart”.  We can argue politics all day.  But it doesn’t change anything. It only divides and divided kingdoms don’t stand.

By all means render onto Cesar what is Cesar’s and vote. Just be aware of your own confirmation bias and your own unreliable emotions.

That said, Jesus was clear.  He said “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”. John 14:6  

Christians are ruining their witness everyday by getting angry over politics. Meanwhile PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HELL.

If you ask me we need to be telling people who Truth is and stop wasting our time fighting over who Trump is. 

At the end of the day we’re all dumb money when it comes to that.

Don’t be a Squirrel

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Foundations

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

2 Peter 1:1-2

Servant is doûlos in Greek

an enslaved person, one who gives himself up to another’s will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men, devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests

Doûlos is the word from which the English term Doula is derived, and it refers to a non-medical professional who provides continuous support to someone going through a significant challenge, e.g., assisting birthing parents before, during, and immediately after childbirth. This is poignant if we consider that the original 12 Apostles served as doulas in the birth and propagation of the Gospel.

It is worth noting that Peter’s self-identification as a “Doûlos” precedes his identity as an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Apostle is apóstolos in Greek 

a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders, specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ, in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers like Barnabas, Timothy, and Silvanus a.k.a. Silas.

There is considerable controversy regarding the Apostolic anointing and the office. More than a few people today lay claim to both.

Anointing itself carries a range of connotations today. However, anointing was the inaugural ceremony for priests. (Leviticus 8)

Baptism is a public declaration of individual believers signifying an inner conviction, repentance, death, and rebirth as a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is a first step into a resolve to offer oneself as a living sacrifice Romans 12:1-2, as part of our being conformed to the image of Jesus. (Romans 8:29)

Similarly, anointing is a public declaration of the bestowing of authority, with the sobering reality that to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48)

The office of the Apostle is even more controversial. Many Christians restrict the title to the original 12 appointed by Jesus. While there is a definite distinction between the original 12, many emissaries are sent out as missionaries today. This commission is certainly Apostolic and applies in the same sense as it did to Barnabas, Timothy, and Silas. 

My wife and I were anointed when we were publicly ordained and sent out as missionaries. It was a ceremony in which we committed to lay down our six-figure income and our lives in the Hawaiian paradise to live in the Third World.

Anointing meant six years of beans and rice, bad water, illness, discomfort, and various life-threatening situations while doing our best as doulas to the less fortunate.

It meant being stripped of pride, self-righteousness, and self-centeredness we didn’t know we had. It meant rejection by angry family and friends who didn’t understand how we could leave them. It meant having the closest, most intimate experiences with our Lord because we had no one and nothing else to depend on. 

Anointing did not mean platforms or authority that elicited deference from others toward any perceived celebrity. It meant obscurity and marginalization, not fame or a cult-like following of those hoping for a dopamine-driven impartation of significance.

The true Apostolic office and anointing, as compared with the self-inflating modern version, are best described by Paul.

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
1 Corinthians 4:9-13

Perhaps the greatest distinction between the Apostles chosen by Jesus and those appointed by the Church afterward is that, in their servitude as Doûlos, they laid the foundation, in conjunction with the Old Testament prophets, for the whole structure; being joined together, it grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

A foundation is laid once.  So often I hear people misquote Amos 3:7: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets“. Or Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I am doing a new thing,”  in the present tense, as if contemporary false prophets are on equal footing with Amos and Isaiah. They are not. If they were, they would remain subject to death for being wrong. Old Testament prophets were tasked with laying out God’s will and plan, His foundation for His Eternal Kingdom. There was no margin for error. This is called “foretelling”. It foretells the future.

New Testament prophecy is “forthtelling”. It is proclaiming God’s truth, will, and message in the present moment. New Testament prophets may reveal new understanding regarding what was written concerning the foundation. They do not reveal or proclaim a new foundation. 

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
 
Revelation 19:9-10

New Testament prophets are to edify, exhort, and comfort the church. 1 Corinthians 14:3

Edify is oikodomḗ in Greek

the base of a structure; confirmation, the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, and holiness

Exhortation is paráklēsis in Greek

persuasive discourse, stirring address, instructive, admonitory, conciliatory, powerful, strongly advising discourse

Comfort is paramythía in Greek

any address, whether made for the purpose of persuading, or of arousing and stimulating, or of calming and consoling

The original prophetic preaching was preaching from Bible prophecy. Not farming Facebook data for fraudulent foretelling. That seems reasonable given that 500 of 2500 prophecies remain unfulfilled.

Hence, a contemporary prophet might edify the body by declaring the impending fulfillment of Ezekiel 38, exhorting them to search their hearts, then prepare to endure, while comforting them with the reality that, regardless of the earthly outcome, we are saved by the blood of Jesus and already have our seat with Him in eternity. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Once again, the foundation was laid by the 12 Apostles and the Old Testament prophets, not modern renditions of those in Jeremiah 14, 23, and 28.  In verse 2, Peter echoes and supports Paul’s words in Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 3.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Ephesians 4:11-14
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, they will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

The foundation has been laid. Modern Apostles might expand the original foundation as they plant churches. New foundations are heresy.

Our primary mandate today is to know Jesus and help guide others into the faith of equal standing with the Apostles. Equal standing does not mean equal authority. We build upon their foundation by evangelizing, teaching, and preaching the only thing that can save us, which is the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, until grace and peace are multiplied in unity and in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Faith and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ come first by the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Not self-appointed celebrities anointed by other self-appointed celebrities.

As we will see, this is the foundation that Peter seeks to uphold and protect in 2 Peter. Hence, he begins the book with a gentle declaration and confirmation that serves as comfort to the faithful and a warning to others. The underlying theme in 2 Peter is the edification of the faithful and a warning that reflects and supports Paul’s in Galatians 1.

But even if an angel from heaven were to preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:8-9

Accursed is anáthema banned, excommunicated, cut off.

Chew on That…

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Does Integrity Matter?

Paul v.s. Felix

Paul visits the beloved Ephesian elders in Mielitus. He tells them it is the last time he will see them and they weep. He reminds them of his impeccable integrity in fulfilling the mission the Lord had given them.

I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Acts 20:21
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 

Acts 20:26-27

Paul appears to be referencing his obedience to Ezekiel 3.

If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,'and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 

Ezekiel 3:18-19

Paul then warns them of wolves and twisted teachers that would arise from among them.

In Acts 22 Paul establishes his integrity before his accusers first by declaring his credentials and his obedience to the law up to and including the persecution of Christians. He declares and owns this error that was confronted and corrected by Jesus. He does not back down when faced with the same persecution he had previously perpetrated on others.  Paul’s persecution continues in Acts 23.

And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 

Acts 23:1

The high priest responds by ordering those close by to punch Paul in the face. Paul responds by calling a spade a spade, referring to the high priest as a “whitewashed wall.” His assessment was correct. Yet Paul’s eyesight was poor and he immediately repented the moment he learned he had unwittingly addressed the high priest.

“Why would he repent?”

Paul didn’t change his opinion about the high priest. Paul repented because of his own integrity. He repented because, “it is written ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'” Paul’s respect was not directed toward the high priest. His repentance was in obedience to the Lord who was sending him on to Rome.

In Acts 24 Paul is brought before Felix the Roman governor. The Jews remained relentless in wanting him dead. Paul simply defends his integrity and begins the conclusion of his testimony with,

"So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man."

Acts 24:16
‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.’” 

Acts 24:21

Felix and his licentious wife Drucilla protect Paul and give him a haven in a modified prison with privileges. It occurs to me that Paul had the most peace and security during the two years he spent there. Still, Felix was corrupt and had no integrity. He just wanted Paul to bribe him and would eventually face what amounted to corruption charges in Rome.

Integrity
Integrity the quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, and maintaining consistency in character, often described as doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It also refers to a state of being whole, undivided, or complete. Synonyms include honesty, honor, probity, rectitude, and wholeness.

-AI synopsis from six dictionaries-

Mental Fragmentation is the opposite of integrity.  Oxford Academic describes Fragmentation as,

A concept where the overall belief system is split into multiple, sometimes contradictory, sub-states rather than one unified whole.

James describes fragmentation as a double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways.

In any case, integrity seems pretty important to God. That brings me to today.

Just this past week I had two Zoom calls scheduled with people I do not know. I completely rearranged my day around them. I set alarms so as to make absolutely certain that I would remain true to my word. One person ghosted me. The other was kind enough to message me one minute before the call was scheduled,

“Sorry. Something came up.”

For some reason this week several friends have shared their frustration with the absence of integrity of believers. People who were supposed to be at such and such a place and such and such a time and weren’t and won’t even acknowledge this is problematic. People who borrowed things and returned them broken. Others did not return what they borrowed at all. Granted, emergencies happen. But that does not apply in any of these situations. 

A lack of integrity does.

At work, people often don’t show up or show up late without even making a call to say they are going to be late. So what if the overnight person wants to go home? So what if it disrupts the lives of at least twelve other people. 

The sheer volume and frequency of these kinds of events lead me to wonder if integrity was never taught or if people simply don’t care. In all these cases the message is clear.

My time is valuable. Your time is not.

At first, I was tempted to become angry. “They’re just self-centered undisciplined spoiled brats!” That quickly transformed to, “We’ll, Jesus didn’t trust people.” John 2:24-25 Then finally, 

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I decided to not be convinced that these people are in any way malicious or intentionally inconsiderate. What I see is fragmentation. After all, what is so complicated or hard about

saying what you mean and doing what you say?

While my primary experience is with those in the church, fragmentation seems to every where and growing. Could this be why so many are consumed understanding their own identities?

Paul never wavered or faltered after he encountered Jesus. He knew what he saw and was told. He remained unmoved by flattery or flagellation. He knew God’s word, obeyed it and fulfilled his God-ordained mission. Why are contemporary believers so fragmented?

I did some digging.

Multiple online sources cite the cause of extensive psychological fragmentation within our society as the combined pressures of digital overstimulation, chronic trauma/stress, and a fast-paced, “fad-oriented” modern lifestyle that prevents deep integration of experiences.

  • The average person engages with constant stimuli (96+ smartphone checks daily), creating a fractured, perpetually divided attention span that is often engineered for engagement rather than focus.
  • Modernity causes people to adopt multiple, often contradictory identities (e.g., work, social media, family) rather than maintaining a unified, stable sense of self.
  • When emotional pain is too high to process, people may utilize “splitting” or dissociation as a survival tool, breaking their psyches into fragments that hold pain or fear.
  • Economic, political, and rapid technological innovations prevent the formation of a cohesive, stable, or unified life experience.
  • The decline of traditional social structures, such as religion and stable communities, leaves a void that increases feelings of disorientation.

This fragmentation leads to feelings of disassociation, confusion, and disconnection from the self.

People aren’t just disconnected from others. They are disconnected from themselves. In that context, failing to keep an online appointment carries the same emotional charge as choosing not to pick up one’s phone. 

What’s the beg deal?!

COVID 19

Given that the perceived lack of integrity seems more prevalent among younger people, I wondered about the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and if there were any contributing factors. Once again I drilled down into multiple online sources. As it turns out,

COVID-19 lockdowns caused widespread psychological fragmentation, characterized by a loss of familiar routines, social isolation, and heightened anxiety. This “uncanny” disruption fractured the sense of time and self, resulting in elevated rates of depression, stress, and unprocessed trauma. Key factors included the loss of social connection, economic uncertainty, and a persistent fear of infection.

  • Temporal Distortion: The blurring of daily routines caused individuals to lose the ability to differentiate between days, disrupting personal memory and perceived time.
  • Loss of Familiarity: The disappearance of daily rituals and familiar social interaction created a “sense of the uncanny” and a fragmentation of the known world.
  • Social and Emotional Detachment: Extensive loneliness and social isolation, particularly among youth and older adults, drove a spike in anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms.

Still, there is a part of me that wonders if I am simply making excuses for sin. Am I making excuses for people because excuses like trauma and COVID lockdowns are so much more palatable than calling out the fact that people do not fear God. The pursuit of holiness has become ancillary. The word sin if it is mentioned at all is usually a hasty generalization. Meanwhile decades of sexual sin and abuse are being exposed. Why would I hope for, let alone expect integrity in a culture that protects predators and persecutes their victims?

Am I wrong?

“Help me Lord to see the best, hope and believe the best!”

Almost invariably He shows me yet another worldly abomination masquerading as truth faith. Buckle up. The government has allegedly been briefing certain pastors regarding a pending Alien contact disclosure.

Jesus made a whip.

It occurs to me and concerns me that the world as we know it has not returned to normal, whatever that was, since the end of 2021. On one hand, I believe I have an idea of where we are on the biblical timeline, that we have stepped into a period of Matthew 24:4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:11 planáō which is deception and delusion. On the other hand, the increase in deception and delusion should apparent regardless of whether or not you believe in Bible prophecy.

The complete absence of integrity among our current elected officials who have done none of what they promised to do but have exposed themselves as part of what is being called the “Epstein Class” is just the start. Apparently pedophilia and cannibalism are the new normal. Meanwhile, they have started a war that could result in two to four billion people starving to death over the next decade. While Africa and the rest of the world face the greatest risk, Keir Starmer just announced the possible need for food rationing in the UK. Just as some posulated that COVID lockdowns were by design as evidenced in part by the increased economic and political power gained by the so-called Epstein Elite, many suspect that the war with Iran is a similar ploy to cull the world’s population through starvation and war. The discussion is not new and has been ongoing since Thomas Galton invented Eugenics in 1883, followed by a slew of Racial Hygienists, like Margaret Sanger whose founding of Planned Parenthood, at the turn of the last century inspired Adolf Hitler. Paul R. Ehrlich’s 1968 book, The Population Bomb, inspired people like Bill Gates and other technological elites such as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, and Pavel Durov, to name a few who believe that only their own bloodlines are worthy of propagation. I could go on. Suffice it to say, that while we should, “Occupy (do business) till He comes.“, Luke 19:13, we should also 

Be sober, watchful for our enemy prowls around like a lion seeking whom he might devour. 

1 Peter 5:8

In my view, we should be prepared for the coming crisis including situations not unlike those that were faced by Jesus, Paul, and all the other disciples. After all the Bible promises persecution, not prosperity. Preparation begins with character not bunkers, supply hoarding, and guns.

Integrity is non-negotiable in a crisis. If I can’t count on you to show up for a phone call, let alone conform your thoughts and behavior to the word of God, amid relative prosperity and comfort, how will I or anyone else for that matter, count on you when the going gets tough? In the words of Jeremiah, 

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? 

Jeremiah 12:5

The simple answer is we won’t. I for one am actively distancing myself from anyone I can’t trust or count on. I don’t care how loud you sing, or how much you weep in worship if your word is garbage.

How will you be faithful to God if you lie to man?

Does that sound harsh? Maybe. Yet it occurs to me that Paul never minced words or pulled punches. His uncompromising pursuit of truth above all things underpinned his integrity. Paul knew that love and truth cannot be divorced. Of course it also caused people, especially people of faith to want him dead. He could have walked away at any time after his arrest in Rome. Instead he maintained his integrity and was ultimately beheaded for it. Given that this is a Bible study, it may be worthy to point out that the Bible doesn’t specifically say that Paul was beheaded. Rather,

“Early church historians and fathers, including Eusebius and Tertullian, state that Paul was executed (beheaded) by the Roman emperor Nero around A.D. 64–67.”

-Sean  MacDowell-

Let’s ask ourselves these questions. Do I say what I mean and do what I say? Why or why not? Do I repent when I fail? Am I obedient to the word of God or just the parts that I like and give me a dopamine rush? Is God’s truth the standard for my life or is people pleasing and politicking in Jesus’s name my way? What does integrity or the lack thereof look like in my life?

Does integrity even matter?

Chew on that…

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree, Red Pill Diaries

Truth or Trump II?

I wrote Truth or Trump? back in 2019. I still have never met the man. But I’m pretty sure I had him pegged back then when nearly 60% of Evangelicals thought he was the next best thing to sliced bread.

Back then he was a modern-day Cirrus. This time he is Jehu. Paula White-Cain is the Senior Advisor of the White House Faith Office esteemed him a bit more. Am I the only one who sees irony in the name Cain? In addition to being a false NAR teacher, Paula White is best known for her 2010 romantic entanglement with televangelist Benny Hinn. Mind you Paula White was a head Pastor at the time and never stepped down or even repented when she was caught. See my previous post regarding the Biblical standards for leaders if you are confused regarding why this is problematic. Paula White recently compared Trump with Jesus Christ.

That seems ironic because in his own words Trump “doesn’t think anything is going to get (him) into heaven.” In response to Erika Kirk’s stated forgiveness, of her husband’s assassin, he said he hates his enemies. In 2015 he said he never asked God for forgiveness.

I had just attended Easter service 2026 as the President posted this.

Meanwhile we have what appears to be Stiffler 2.0 from the movie American Pie running the Department of War.

Pete Hegseth has been rallying our troops to Holy War to facilitate Armageddon and the return of Jesus. Hegseth oversaw a failed attempt at recovering Iranian nuclear material framed as the rescue of an F-15 weapons officer whom no one has seen. Until now.

Is she a swinger, an Uber driver, a door dash grandma or a fighter pilot?

The narrative was conveniently framed with the pilot in a cave from Passover until she was resurrected, I mean rescued on Easter. Never mind that the pilot was a male weapons officer at the time.

Dan Bongino recently lambasted readers for being biblically illiterate, claiming that the United States is represented by the Eagle’s wings in Daniel. According to  Bongino these are the same eagle’s wings in Revelation 12 that will carry Israel into the wilderness to be preserved during the Great Tribulation.

For the record, the Eagles Wings on the Lion in Daniel 7 were plucked off. The imagery is most likely in reference to Nebuchadnezzar and the Neo-Babylonian Empire (605–539 BC). God did rescue Israel from Egypt with metaphoracal eagle’s wings in Exodus which is a type and shadow for the end times.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you unto Myself. Exodus 19:5

While I was for Trump over Biden in 2019 and in 2024 because Putin said he would Nuke the US if Kamala were elected, when I wrote Truth or Trump in 2019 I hoped that people would address their own faulty logic, poor exegesis, and thinking errors regarding their imposition of their worldly hopes on scripture. At best Trump was and is just a man. While that appears to have taken place to a degree, an entire stream of professing Christians is increasingly given over to strong delusion.

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Delusion is plánē straying from orthodoxy or piety:–deceit, to deceive, delusion, error. It is the same word Jesus uses for deceive in the Olivet discourse in Mathew 24-25.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Mathew 24:3-4

Plánē to cause to roam from safety, truth, or virtue -go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander.

Strongs Concordance- #4105

Plánē in real time looks Texas Republican Representative Troy Nehls.

‘I think Donald Trump is almost the second coming of Jesus Christ, in my humble opinion’

Rep. Troy Nehls

As I listen to political, pseudo-Christian voices that claim to do God’s bidding in the name of the USA, I also watch biblical truth seekers increasingly marginalized, accused of gossip, division, and heresy hunting. I hear the prophetic words of Jesus echoing in my mind.

…“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death…

Mathew 10:16-21

While people are increasingly corralled by internet algorithms into binary, “left versus right stalls”, it occurs to me that Christian nationalists and the Laodocian church who scoff at those of us who view them and ourselves through the lens and mirror of scripture today, may be the very people who deliver us up to death tomorrow.

Laodocians will inevitably recoil at my assertion. They are prosperous, and more than anything else, they want to remain that way.  So they impose their heart’s desires upon scripture and conform it according to what they want. Hence Donald Trump a blatant narcissist and possible psychopath becomes Cyrus, or Jehu, and now Jesus.

“But God removes kings and sets up kings“, you say. This is a valid argument provided you apply it to Joe Biden as well. The problem we have today is that people view the leader they like as good because God is on their side.

“God bless America! America is Good!”

But what does scripture say?

“No one is righteous.” Isaiah 64, and Romans 3. Apart from Christ and citizenship in His kingdom all are “dead in their trespasses.” Ephesians 2. Apart from Christ there are no good guys. There are just two categories: in Christ Jesus and not. 1 Corinthians 5. If you are in Christ Jesus you are reconciled to God and a new creation. You now have the ministry of reconciliation. That is reconciliation between man and God. You are called to plant and water. 1 Corinthians 3. That means, share the Gospel and pray that God gives the increase. In the meantime, there is no righteous country, economic system, political party, or side in a campaign of organized murder otherwise known as war. Iran, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, North Korea, and yes the United States are dead in their sins. Their only hope is Romans 12:1-2 surrender, the fruit of which looks like very concrete obedience to Mathew 5-7. In the meantime, God is populating and building His eternal kingdom one life at a time.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 

Acts 10:34-35

When I watch Donald Trump I do not see Cyrus, or Jehu let alone Jesus or lol, a Doctor… Even Trump knew he’d gone too far. I don’t even see a Christian. I see a man surrounded by self-serving heretics whose “god is their belly”, people enamored by narcissists who pander to power for their own benefit. I pray for the salvation of Donald Trump. I pray for the salvation of Benjamin Netanyahu, the IRGC, and the Hutis and every other warped, self-righteous demagogue on the planet. That said, as of today, the only potential typological representation of a Biblical character that I see in Trump is Herod.

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

Acts 12:20-23

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary, Uncategorized

Liberation Theology Apology

Today the gospel and the very definition of truth are under attack within society and the church.

Many people don’t even know it.   

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.   2 Cor 10:4-5

There is a false gospel among us hiding under a veil of empathy and compassion.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” 2 Cor 11:3-4

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:”  Gal 1

Paul was constantly addressing heresy throughout the course of his ministry. For example, he rebuked the Galatians because as a result of ‘some that troubled them‘, the gospel of Christ was being perverted.  He makes it clear that it doesn’t matter who does it, be it a person or an angel from heaven; preaching a false gospel will result in a curse.

Liberation theology is a 20th-century Christian, primarily Roman Catholic, movement originating in 1950s-60s Latin America, emphasizing the church’s duty to promote social and economic justice for the oppressed.Gustavo Gutiérrez Peruvian author of A Theology of Liberation is often considered the actual founder.

Today Liberation Theology is often framed as opposition to conservative protestants. However, it was formed in rebuttal to the Catholic church which was imbedded in Latin American governments since arrival of Spanish Conquistadors.

What is Liberation Theology?

Liberation theology emphasizes the poor in interpreting the gospel. It emphasizes social activism to dismantle structural sin. Structural sin refers political and socioeconomic systems within a society that favor those regarded as oppressors. Liberation theology takes the side of the poor and oppressed. The purpose of the church is to act on their behalf. Sin is not just individual, but embedded in economic and political systems. 

Theology is not abstract but must be developed from the lived experience of the marginalized.

The Bible is read from the perspective of the poor. Their liberation is likened to the Exodus.  Justice is not grace is emphasized.

While rooted in Latin America, Liberation Theology has expanded its influence. Today we have,
Black Liberation Theology, Feminist Liberation Theology, Asian/African Liberation Theologies.
Liberation theology relies heavily on Marxist social analysis, rooted in concerns about class conflict.

The term “Marxist” is often an overgeneralized term in that even Marxists don’t always agree on what “Marxist” means. For our purposes here, I describe the Marxist analytical lens as “Deconstructive”. All political, socioeconomic problems are regarded as systemic. The solution requires that these systems be torn down and replaced. The idea of fixing or mproving existing captitalist  systems is oxymoronic.

Every problem is reduced to an issue of power. The foundation of every solution begins with the transfer of power.

There are two categories. Oppressor and oppressed. Every subgroup falls under one. Capitalism is always an oppressor. White, cisgender Christian men are oppressors. Black. LGBTQ, female Wiccans are oppressed. This paradigm is best understood in terms of what Critical Theorists call

“Intersectionality”

I would say that sometimes these descriptions do apply in the context of individuals and individual communities. Racism and bigotry do exist. God has told us how we should treat others.

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

The fact that Liberation theology attempts to address very real and valid concerns, does not change the reality that it is in fact another gospel.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:8-9

Not every false gospel is rooted malicious conspiracy.  Well-meaning people are twisting the gospel in that biblical truth is determined by “lived experiences” instead of interpreting lived experiences according to the gospel. Empathy and compassion are their drivers. Still, the purpose of the gospel is to conform us to the image of His Son. Romans 8:29 Many mistake it as an exhortation to conform society according to our image of justice through social activism. And it’s not just the left. Heretical NAR doctrines like “The Seven Mountains Mandate” and the “Manifest Sons of God” seek social transformation by changing systems and institutions.

The gospel message is eternal not temporal. His kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 The gospel message is for individuals and the transformation of individual hearts. Everything else would change if everyone obeyed and followed Jesus. Not a man talking about Jesus. But Jesus as revealed in scripture.

Of course, this is foolishness to unbelievers who only view life through a temporal lens.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18

Blessed is he who understands the hidden causes of things.

-Virgil-

The Roots of Liberation Theology

Liberation Theology is rooted in Marxist Theory. According to Marxist theory, the proletariat or working class is unfairly dominated or oppressed by the power-wielding bourgeoisie or the wealthy capitalist class. Marx saw these divisions as solely economic.  He assumed that the alleged economic repression of the working class would naturally result in their eventual revolt against the capitalist class. He did not take into account that while the rich get richer within capitalism, the poor get richer too. At least they used to. Long story short, after the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1911 and Russian Revolution in 1917 those adhering to Marxist philosophy realized they needed a different strategy for tearing down the status quo in order to usher in a Marxist solution.

The 1930s saw the advent of “Critical Theory” sometimes called Neo-Marxism developed by a group of sociologists and philosophers known as the Frankfurt School.

The philosophical underpinnings of Critical Theory were derived from Antonio Gramsci who was imprisoned by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was the first to define socialism as a religion and stated “socialism is precisely the religion that must kill Christianity.” He is best known for his Prison Notebooks that inspired future critical theorists and formed the basis for the theory of hegemony whereby instead of a violent and bloody revolution Marxist goals could be achieved through institutional manipulation and coercion via institutions like media, religion, and education. His socialist religion was rooted in “trust in man and his best strengths as the sole spiritual reality.” 

Instead of working-class versus capitalist class, contemporary critical theory a.k.a. Critical Race Theory divided society into oppressor versus oppressed groups along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.  Sexism, racism, classism, ageism, and heterosexism… are the main forms of oppression. While oppression was traditionally defined along the lines of cruelty, neglect, and violence, etc. Critical Race theory focuses on ways in which the dominant social group, namely older white cisgender Christian males, imposes its values and standards, on others for the sake of its own interests. Injustice results from everyday practices of society at large via its normalized language, habits, cultural traditions, and symbols.

Terms like Whiteness, White Supremacy, and White Privilege are often confusing to those of us who hold no racial bigotry.  Millennial Critical Theorists who may not even realize they are Critical Theorists, are often oblivious to the strategized cultural programming to which they have been subjected since birth. Postmodernism which came on the scene in 1979, brought the existence of objective truth into question. It validated the relativism that we see today in statements like “My truth is my truth. Your truth is yours.” These truths are defined and determined by individual “lived experiences”. The expectation is that others conform their perspectives to the truth defined by thecindividual lived experience of others.

Conversely, those born before 1979 were taught that our experiences and emotions are valid and true for us. That doesn’t make them inerrantly true. The expectation was that we conform our individual perspectives to objective truth. We were taught to cope with our feelings in accordance with accepting “life on life’s terms.”

Critical Race Theory has many layers, terms, and concepts like Interest Convergence, Positional Epistemology, Standpoint Epistemology, Grievance Justice, Research Justice, Deconstruction, Intersectionality, and the most recent Cancel Culture movement that as of today is employed by the so-called Conservative Right as well. If you want to read more on the history of Critical race theory I recommend starting with the Derrick Bell Reader.

Stuart Greaves, the recently disgraced IHOP leadership team member and author of False Justice wrote, this generation of Social Justice warriors is being prepared to usher in the antichrist. That may be the case. But then we have Bethel and Mercy Culture, and Donald Trump the proverbial Cyrus or Jehu who recently stated that we should “move on” from the horror of statanic Molech worship exposed in the Epstein files. Pam Bondi pointed to the stock market as validation for continued cover-up. So I’m not so sure leftist social justice warriors are the problem. In any case, you can read the genealogy of Critical Race Theory which spawned Liberation Theology here.

The Role of Language

In his sermon, A Bride Adorned for the Bridegroom Art Katz said that Christians are supposed to be the stewards of words and language. What many fail to understand is that so-called Leftist Deconstruction (for lack of a better term) began in the realm of Language in conjunction with Critical Theory with Jacques Derrida. Postmodern relativism buttressed Derrida’s linguistic deconstruction, which, among other things invalidates any attempt to assume we can know the true meaning of a passage of scripture by drilling down into the original language. We must understand, these are two empirically unproven presuppositions leading to two very separate and divergent world views.

Here’s the thing…

Trauma is real. Radical Feminism is rooted in the abuse women suffered at the hands of men. Contemporary beliefs about white supremacy are rooted in abuses of black people by genuine white supremacists. The history we were taught in school is the history of the winners of every sociopolitical, economic battle, and or war. We are conditioned more than taught to align with the winner. But there is a history of the losers as told by Howard Zinn in A People’s History of the United States. Some call it revisionist history. It is simply history from the perspective of the losers. The fact remains that the contemporary Critical Race Theory of Derrick Bell was born out of very real trauma stemming from the horrendous and unjust history of American slavery along with the absolutely valid concerns regarding racial injustice and systemic inequality for people of color and women during the late 1950s into the 1970s. Many of Bell’s concerns were valid especially at the time when he was a black professor of law at Harvard. He even made a decent case for slavery reparations based on the fact that the descendants of slaves were robbed of the inheritance they might have received had slaves been paid for their labor.

The problem for the Church today begins with our ignorance of what our opposition believes and or a lack of empathy for the issuses and traumas that frame their worldview. As for modern Criticat Theory, its approach and doctrinal emphasis on the collective rather than the individual is unrealistic at best. People have the capacity to change themselves. They can not and do not change others let alone systems. Systems change when individuals change. Critical Theory focuses on deconstruction rather than construction. Instead of solving problems by improving the existing system, it seeks to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater by tearing down, canceling culture, reinterpreting scripture, and eliminating the status quo a.k.a “the patriarchy”.

Christianity is patriarchy. Its author and ruler is our Father in Heaven. The biblically aligned marriage and its patriarchal structure is a model for Christ’s relationship with His church. While Critical Race Theory ignores the fact that the chronic absence of fathers in inner-city homes is at the root of problems like gangs and black on black murder. The solution is not the abolition of the patriarchy but for men to fulfill their God-given calling and authority in the family and society at large.

Finally, while Christianity and the salvation of man is rooted in the Ephesians 2:1-10 total depravity of man “dead in our trespasses”, doctrines an dogma rooted in Critical Theory hold to the inherent goodness of man and his ability to save himself. Here are some scriptures that may be helpful in disputing ideologies rooted in Critical Theory.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Col 2:8

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. Eph 5:6

The knowledge of the truth is what sets us free. John 8:32

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom 3:10-18

Biblical righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we walk in because we are grafted in John 15:5 and are then granted supernatural power to be obedient to His word. Rom 8:1-5

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Psalm 89:14

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19 -21

He has no form or comeliness;  And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:2-3

Jesus was the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:14  He didn’t intersect with an oppressed class. He was God who intersected with all of mankind who stand equally guilty of oppressing Him through the voluntary rejection of Himself and His law. 

There is no wisdom or understanding Or counsel against the LORD. Pro 21:30 

“all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Tim 3:12

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Prov 16:25

The Bible says “…lean not on your own understanding In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes.” Prov 3:5-7

Obedience comes with a cost.  Romans 13 is an example. 

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Rev 12:11

“For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” Mat 13:12

Grateful people usually end up with more to be grateful for.  Those without gratitude usually lose what they have. 

I get the sense that a lot of entitled people are about to lose what they didn’t realize they had.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Col 3:1-4

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

Now more than ever we must “study to shew (ourselves) approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary

CRT Genealogy and Scripture Rebuttal

What is commonly known as Critical Race Theory is the philosophical backdrop for Leftist Ideologies today. 

The following timeline and descriptions are not exhaustive. They are intended as tools to help those interested narrow the focus of their research.

1789-99 Rousseau – egalitarianism – French Revolution

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an 18th Century Philosopher who proposed Egalitarianism as a solution to society’s problems. It was framed by the idea that 1. A social utopia was possible. Think “Build Back Better”. 2. This would require a dismantling of all social institutions that got in the way. 3. Once established, a temporary totalitarian government would be required to maintain the new utopia by force.  Egalitarianism helped to fuel the French Revolution.

1830-40 Friedrich Hegel a contemporary of Rousseau is most famous for what is known today as the Hegelian  Dialectic where the thesis conflicts with antithesis to form a synthesis. This is the root of “Dialectal Materialism” that is foundational to Marxist philosophy. The Hegelian Dialectic is a foundation for “discourse” in CRT and the principle of the “problem-reaction-solution” model employed by all totalitarian regimes to gain and maintain control. Hegel is important to the extent that he inspired Marx.

1848 Karl Marx published his renowned Communist Manifesto.  While classical Marxism is economically based whereby a violent overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class was viewed as inevitable.  However, Marx did not account for the fact that while the rich indeed got richer, the poor got richer too.  The takeaway from Marxism that still applies today is conflict theory.  Critical Theories are just rebranded Marxism in that the economic, “oppressor versus oppressed” as a conflict generator is replaced by race and gender.  Hence the term “Cultural Marxism”.

1911 Chinese Revolution

Russian Communist Revolution 1917

American Communist Party forms 1919

1929 – 1935 Antonio Gramsci who was imprisoned by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was the first to define socialism as a religion and stated “socialism is precisely the religion that must kill Christianity.” He is best known for his Prison Notebooks that inspired future critical theorists and formed the basis for the theory of hegemony whereby instead of a violent and bloody revolution Marxist goals could be achieved through institutional manipulation and coercion via institutions like media, religion, and education. His socialist religion was rooted in “trust in man and his best strengths as the sole spiritual reality.” 

1923 Frankfurt School of Economics is formed and Critical Theory is born in 1937. Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse were Marxists whose goal was to rethink and rebrand Marxism that had thus far failed to produce the projected utopian society.

Adorno believed that the authoritarian personality is the result of Capitalism, Christianity, Conservatism, The Patriarchal family, and Sexual repression.

Horkheimer took Critical Theory from being an analytical tool to one of implementing social change.

Marcuse was perhaps the most classically Marxist of the three and proposed that certain ideas, speech, behaviors, etc. must be disallowed. It could be argued that Marcuse is father of the current “Cancel Culture”.

1945-52 Chinese Communist Revolution

1960 Students for a Democratic Society, later became The Weather Underground.  Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn participated in multiple bombings in the 1960s and ’70s. Both got off on a technicality. The concern over communism grew during these years. While conservatives went into government, law enforcement and the military to counter the threat, Marxists like Bill Ayers went into education to advance their agendas.  Bill Ayers specialized in curriculum.

1963 undercover FBI agent Cleon Skousen presents a 45 point plan of the American Communist Party which included a discrediting of the nuclear family, the Bible, and the replacement of “revealed region” with a social form.

1966 Professors Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven developed what is known today as the Cloward – Piven strategy whereby the current socio-economic system in the USA would be dismantled by overwhelming social services and other entitlements with applicants until the entire system collapses and is replaced with one based on socialism. Those influenced by Cloward and Piven include Bill Ayers, Barrack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

1967 Jacques Derrida develops what is commonly known today as “deconstructionism”. While it originally focused on textual criticism that is not without value in terms of Bible exegesis, it became foundational to cultural Marxist deconstruction we know as “cancel culture” today. It also underpins the process whereby so many Christians are deconstructing and falling away from the faith. 

1969  Michael Foucault is best known for ideas like “power/knowledge” the idea that power is gained and maintained by producing and controlling what is accepted as knowledge. His book The History of Sexuality laid a foundation for the current gender-driven upending of society.

In the late 1960s – 70s Harvard law professor Derrick Bell develops critical legal theory.  Bell is often considered an originator of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Besides the idea that racism is normal and endemic to society he also proposed “convergence theory” that in essence says white people are only capable of operating in accordance with their own self-interest. Hence any support of civil rights on the part of whites is because it converges with their interests.

1971 Herbert Marcuse postulates that radical feminism is the best platform for launching the cultural Marxist’s nonviolent revolution.

1971 Saul Alinsky a Barrack Obama mentor publishes Rules for Radicals. It becomes a manual for community organizers. It is prefaced with praising Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom.

1979 the atheist Post Modernism of Jean-François Lyotard is born. It is not taken very seriously outside of academic circles. It ultimately turns the idea of objective truth and especially objective moral law on its head.  The result is that two generations were educated based on a system of relativistic thought that now teaches things like 2+2=5. 

1986 the Standpoint Epistemology of Sandra Harding is often correlated with Critical Theories but is more a product of postmodernism and feminist philosophy.  This has been called Ethnic Gnosticism by Voddie Baucham because it asserts secret knowledge on the part of the oppressed. Truth is based on individual lived experience. For example, a black woman knows things that can not ever be known by a white man. One result we see today is the idea that a white male must listen but not speak when it comes to subjects involving a black person or a female or any other oppressed person or group.    

1989 Kimberly Crenshaw – Intersectionality essentially monetizes the victim stance by identifying oppressed and oppressor groups.  Power is determined according the number of oppressed groups to which one can claim membership. A black female has power.  A black lesbian has more. It is possible to belong to both an oppressed and oppressor groups e.g. a white Christian female or a gay male. However, a white cisgender Christian male can only be an oppressor. One’s only hope within the context of this world view is that new oppressed groups are being added daily to include “overweight” and “introvert”…

2001 Richard Delgado is often credited with condensing and formalizing CRT in his book Critical Race Theory – an Introduction.  Among other things he planted the seeds of the current proposed anti-hate speech laws and outlined the basic framework upon which current CRT is based. They are as follows.

1. Racism is embedded in society and is normal.  CRT begins with the assumption of racism and then searches for it until it is found. Real-time application: “anti-racism work” whereby white people are taught to seek out ways in which they are racist.  They are taught there is no way not to be racist and this will be a lifelong endeavor. That said, only white people can be racist because they have all the power.

2. Convergence theory: Whites are incapable of doing anything except in their interest. For example, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is accused of attempting to conceal her racial bias by adopting black children. She couldn’t have done this out of genuine love. But rather to appease her own guilt for her inherent white privilege.

3. Racism is systemic. All systems eg. Education, Law, religion, etc. are racist. Hence the very foundations of society, language, history, and culture must be deconstructed (dismantled) and rebuilt from the ground up.  (See Egalitarianism)  Racism is an identity, not an action. Real-time application: a black man assaulting an Asian woman results from “Whiteness” imposed upon him by systemic racism.

4. All knowledge is socially constructed.  Language forms the building blocks. What you say matters more than what you do. Today looting and burning by oppressed groups are “peaceful protests”. The January 6th, 2021 protest in Washington D.C. was terrorism by white supremacists. George Floyd is a hero because he died in the custody of white police. Ashley Babbit was a terrorist because she tried to climb unarmed through a window and was shot dead by a black police officer.

2008 Barrack Obama is elected POTUS. The teachings of his primary mentors e.g. Marxist pornographer Frank Marshal Davis,  Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, and Liberation Theologian Jeremiah Wright provided the philosophical foundation for his radical transformation of America.

2011 the Occupy Wall Street movement emerges seemingly out of nowhere. Ironically funded by “one perecenter” billionaires like George Soros.  The emerging classical Marxist narrative seeks to marginalize the 1% in and threatens to “burn it all down”.

2013 BLM is established by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in response to Travon Martin being shot by George Zimmerman. 

2014 Michael Brown killed in St. Louis MO

2016 Donald Trump elected POTUS.

2017 ANTIFA emerges as a formidable presence in the USA. while the group traces its roots back to 1936 opposition to the Nazis its reemergence might be traced to the Occupy Movement. ANTIFA could be termed an anarchic-communist group with a horizontal leadership structure similar to Central American Drug cartels.  However, the extent of their operations, organizational and communication sophistication are evidence of external financing and some form of centralized leadership.  These are the jackbooted brown shirt-type thugs that along with BLM are what Vladimir Lenin called “useful idiots”.  As has been the case in every Marxist revolution, these will be the first to be lined up and shot if and when the desired Marxist regime is achieved.

2018 “White Fragility” published by Robin DiAngelo essentially creates a Kafka Trap for white people who deny being racist in that their denial is taken as proof of guilt. White people are incapable of acting in a way that does not serve their own interests.

Bible Verses

Again, Critical Theories are a world view and even a religion. They have multiple epistemologies (how we determine truth), multiple ethical frameworks (how we determine right from wrong), and multiple metaphysical views (how we determine what is real). As Christians, our worldview is determined and articulated by scripture that is God breathed 2 Tim 3:16-17, Acts 17:11.

Here are some thematically arranged scriptures that will help you give a solid 1 Pet 3:15 apologia for the Christian worldview that is under assault by Marxist sociological theories.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Gen 1:26 all of are His image-bearers

Gen 3 we were all born into sin as a result of the fall.

Isaiah 64:6-7  “But we are ALL like an unclean thing, And all our righteousness are like filthy rags;

Rom 3:10-18 Paul quotes Isaiah “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

Luke 13 Unless we repent of OUR OWN sins our fate will be the same as the Galatians.

2 Cor 4:4 god of this world has blinded unbelievers.  Know where you stand.  Know that world opposing world views are not argued away without a proverbial road to Damascus type experience.

Gen 11 The only division between peoples took place at the tower of Babel.

Acts 2:5-12 That division was dissolved by Holy Spirit.

Eph 2 Defines the valid dividing line between people.  Those in Christ Jesus verse 6 and those who remain children of wrath verse 3.  Denial of this core biblical truth is a subtle key to the growth of false CRT / social justice-based gospel narratives.

Righteousness is only possible through the blood of Jesus. That’s His righteousness, not ours.

Rom 3:25-26 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at present so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

1 John 2:2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

2 Cor 5:16-19 “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Gal 3:28-29 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.,

Rom 2:11-16 For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many, as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

Col 2:8  “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good…

Gal 1:8-10  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Verse 9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preaches any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 10  For do I now persuade men or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 

The word for “accuse” in this verse is katēgoréō from which the word “categorization” is derived. The devil is constantly attempting to divide and categorize us. Those adhering to Critical Theories are doing the same. They represent the spirit of anti-Christ.

Biblical justice is based on our individual actions not the actions of those assigned to the same category.

Deuteronomy 19:15 on the basis of two or three witnesses.

Lev 19:15 no preference for the poor (or anyone else) injustice.

2 Tim 3:12 those living Godly will suffer persecution. There is no God-given plan to eliminate it before He returns.  Hence justice will be determined by Him.

Isaiah 53:2-3 “He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.” This is the only verse that declares anything about Jesus’s appearance.  The declaration is made 700 years before Jesus was born.  Those who proclaim that Jesus was a racial minority have no basis for this argument.  He was somewhere on the scale between albino and black.

2 Cor 4:14-15 The true gospel says that one of God’s purposes in blessing us is that our thanksgiving (should) abound to the glory of God. Gratitude to God for His blessings is a form of worship. But the social Justice gospel demands we atone for God’s blessings.

Finally we have the issue of racism addressed in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. You can read about that here.

MARANATHA

Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Red Pill Diaries

DARVO

I recently saw a Facebook post by Brian Simmons, the author of The Passion Translation, regarding recent and ongoing exposure of  Sexual and or Spiritual abuse in the church. On the surface, the post appears rooted in love and compassion. More than a few members of the ministry in which I currently find myself are praising it.

Simmons cites Paul’s approach to rampant sin in the Church of Corinth along with the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. That approach is

Affirm -Reveal – Invite.

His premise regarding the approach is not inherently false, but it is a false equivalence.

Paul and John are addressing the entire fellowship. Not every participant within these fellowships was guilty or equally guilty of the sins being addressed.

Conversely, the sins being addressed today are exclusively on the part of leadership, which is held to a higher standard than regular congregants. 1 Timothy 3:1-7, James 3:1,1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, and

As for those (Leaders) who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

1 Timothy 5:20-22

The sins of the leaders being exposed by discernment ministries like Mike Winger are as follows. Lying, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, adultery, indecent exposure, fraud, false prophecy resulting in physical harm, false signs and wonders, false testimony leading to medical harm, turning a blind eye when sin by co-leaders is exposed while frequently ostracizing, maligning, and or silencing whistleblowers with NDAs.

Leaders among whom Brian Simmons is just one are appealing to the emotions of their followers. They petition hearts for grace and mercy upon the predators while at best ignoring their victims.

Deny

Rationalization, Justification, Minimization, and Generalization otherwise known as “criminal thinking errors” are primary tools in denial.

I listened to Kris Vallotton‘s first response to Mike Winger regarding Shawn Boltz. Throughout the video, he employs criminal thinking errors.  Among these Generalization and Minimization seem to be his favorites. He never uses Mike Winger’s or Shawn Boltz’s name. However, the timing and issue at hand are clear. Vallotton rationalizes and minimizes Bethel’s failure to address Boltz’s abuse on the basis that their flock is in 72 countries and therefore hard to Shepard. That so many followers are online makes it harder. He generalized that we don’t always know the background of leaders who fall and implied that Boltz and maybe others were operating out of past trauma. This was a rationalization and justification to build a strawman. 

Attack

Vallotton continues to build a strawman as he attacks. He accuses people like Mike Winger, of exposing sin for revenue-generating “clicks”. For the record, Mike Winger has de-monitized all of his videos exposing sin in leadership. These videos are five or six hours long. Having produced videos myself, the sheer volume of labour involved in this is beyond comprehension. That said, Mike Winger’s motivation is not the issue. Niether are the tone and approach mentioned by Brian Simmons. The issue is the indictment of the named leaders in the context of those they have harmed. The allegations are true or they are not. In the meantime, any other question or supposition is a deflection and diversion from the real issue.

The attack is furthered with gaslighting. The victims are accused of being offended and reminded that forgiveness is a mandate. This is true but in this context, it is another strawman. That we must have mercy and forgive does not negate “doing justly”  when a perpetrator is not held accountable and does not repent. Mathew 18:6

Finally, victims are accused of being divisive if they share their experiences with people in their communities and the public at large.

Reverse Victim / Offender

Once the victim is in fear of being in the sins of offense and divisiveness they become the offender. It’s a bit like telling a rape victim that she wouldn’t have been raped if her skirt weren’t so short.

In both cases, Simmons and Vallotton have people responding with compassion for the predators while all but ignoring the fact that the sins of men like Mike Bickle, and Shawn Boltz were known to leadership for decades and were swept under the rug. Bill Johnson knew about Shawn Boltz’s fraudulent prophecies as early as 2016 and yet he praised Boltz’s character while promoting his book in 2023. Vallotton knew Boltz would masturbate in front of interns and send pictures of his penis and full nudes via text. Yes, he apparently confronted him. But Vallotton placed gifting over character and used Solomon and Judas as examples of good ministry done by bad characters. Mike Bickle cited David in his defense. Yes God causes all things to work together for good…Romans 8:28. That said, the moral failings of biblical leaders are there as an example of what not to do. They are not an excuse for the same moral failings on our part.

Things might be different if just one or two people were the problem. However, the issue is systemic. At the end of the day, all of this is about image management to preserve a brand instead of obedience to God through His word. That brand may be framed as a “movement” or a ministry. But it is a brand nonetheless upon which the inflow of millions and millions of dollars and lavish lifestyles depend.

If this is confusing consider the following especially if you have children.

What would you have me do if I walked in on a trusted person in ministry who was masturbating in front of your child? Should, I bless him and affirm all the good he has done, gently explain why God does not approve of his behavior, pray with him, and ask him to stop?

For the record, I would give extreme mercy. In this case, mercy would look like me rendering him unconscious and calling the police instead of hanging a millstone around his neck and casting him into the sea as Jesus recommended.

What would you say if you later learned that the others in church leadership knew about the perpetrator and his recurring behavior for years and did nothing?

Where are the men in the church? Or have all of you been so emasculated that you cannot or will not stand boldly and protect the flock especially women and children?!

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree, Red Pill Diaries

Opinions are Like Elbows

Almost everyone has at least one.

While we counsel people who have deconstructed or are on the verge of deconstructing, many are lamenting the exposure of sin by prominent leaders and ministries. Exposure is an affront to the honor culture in which so many Christians have been discipled. Honor is not a bad thing. It is rooted in Paul’s approach to the Great Commission in 1 Corinthians 9:22. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Unfortunately, honor is frequently perverted into a cover-up culture where narcissistic self-proclaimed leaders, teachers, and prophets misappropriate Psalm 105:15.

I think we need to frame any discussion regarding the ongoing exposure in the context of scripture, especially Matthew 7:13-14 lest our own biases and sentiments take us off course.

Leaders must abide by 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and be above reproach.

Above reproach is –
Anepílēptos

• inculpable:–blameless, unrebukeable. not apprehended, that cannot be laid hold of
• that cannot be reprehended, not open to censure, irreproachable.

-Strongs Concordance-

This includes, that “he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”

James 3:1 tells us that teachers will be judged more strictly.

Of course, we should be mindful of the guardrail of 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18 along with 1 Timothy 5:17-19. Good leaders deserve double honor.

Conversely, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 and 1 Timothy 5:20-22 are the opposing guardrails. Test everything. Persistently bad leaders are to be rebuked in the presence of all so others may fear.

The Mathew 18:6 millstone should not be dismissed.

We should keep 1 Peter 4:17 in mind when we consider leaders and ministries that are being exposed as exposure is an aspect of God’s judgment. Judgement should not be confused with mere wrath. God’s judgments are intended to be redemptive. See Jeremiah 29:1-11

The problem as I see it is that these exposed leaders have no fear of God. Not one that I have heard mentions that they have sinned against God. Rather they are concerned with their “movements”.  

Ministry has become a contemporary golden calf especially within Charismatic streams.

Too often the victims of these men and their movements are swept under the proverbial rug seemingly as acceptable losses because “God moved.” They minimize, generalize, rationalize, and justify, the actions of those they cover, gaslighting followers who naively and exclusively cling to Philippians  4:8 apart from the rest of scripture.

If we listened to the victims we would note the recurring motif of Mathew 23:13. We don’t because too many have mistaken dopamine for the manifest presence of God. Confronting sin in pursuit of holiness disrupts dopamine like Narcan blocks an opiate. Thousands of young people have deconstructed and now reject the gospel entirely because these leaders ignored Galatians 1:8-9.

That said,


“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1:6-7

God is preparing His Bride. He is burning off the dross. Gold itself does not burn.  Like any good goldsmith, God is with us while we are in the fire. He will know the impurities are gone when He sees his own reflection. At that point He will have a bride without spot or wrinkle. Ephesians 5:25-27.

Now is the time more than ever to search the scriptures to see if what we hear and believe is truth or just someone’s elbow. Acts 17:11

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree

Stay Out of the Ditch

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand. “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Ezekiel 33:1-9

We just finished Acts 10 in our Bible study where God flips Peter’s paradigm upside down again. I say again because Peter thought he knew what Jesus meant when He told the disciples to buy a sword in Luke 22:36-38 only to be rebuked for using it in Luke 22:50-51.

“No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him.

Luke 22:51

“No more of this!” was a mark in time. It was the official enactment of the Sermon on the Mount. No longer would God’s ambassadors conquer territory by the sword.

Acts 10 begins with Peter having gone to stay in the home of Simon the Tanner. Tanners were ceremonially unclean. Hence, Peter was in violation of Jewish law by having contact with him let alone sleeping in his house.

Next, God speaks through Cornelius, a believer in God but not a disciple yet, or a Jew. This is followed by Peter’s vision and God’s command to “Kill and eat” non-kosher food. This was another mark in time and formal enactment of Jesus’s words in Mathew 15.


“…it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Mathew 15:11

Realize it or not, Jesus repeatedly brings us back to the original problem, namely the “knowledge of good and evil” from Genesis 3. Most people limit their understanding to the act of disobedience when Adam and Eve ate the fruit. The greater depth of their sin was that man became a god unto himself.

Paul quoted Isaiah that “no one is righteous“. Our very best, most altruistic ideas and judgments are like filthy rags. Isaiah 64 and Romans 3. Jesus flipped this paradigm when He only said and did what he heard and saw His Father do. John 5:19-20. Jesus was God incarnate on earth and yet even He did not lean on His own understanding…Proverbs 3:5-8.

I believe another mark in time is upon us.

A family member of mine has deconstructed from Christianity mainly due to spiritual abuse and extreme hypocrisy that all too often characterizes the contemporary Laodicean body of Christ. His worldview has since swung hard left. I have traditionally been just right of the middle. We often message back and forth on TikTok. 

I mention this because my TikTok algorithm has changed. Instead of my being exclusively fed right-leaning content, I have been seeing almost exactly fifty percent right and fifty percent left-leaning media. In nature, there are compelling moral arguments on both sides for almost every socioeconomic or political issue. After all, we all want better, more affordable food, healthcare, and energy. No one I know wants to drink contaminated water or breathe polluted air.

One thing I have observed is that if you are on the right, you undoubtedly see the very worst representations of the left. We’ve all seen Black Block Antifa types throwing bricks through windows, starting fires, and attacking reporters. When questioned they have nothing but explicatives to share. Meanwhile, those on the left see overt white supremacists, e.g., Patriot Front members, Nick Fuentes, and KKK nut jobs. The right hears about Tim Walz drinking horse semen and partnering with Somali “Learing” Centers to rob the American taxpayers. The left hears that Donald Trump is a misogynistic Nazi pedophile and friend of Jeffrey Epstein. One thing is certain. Some, all, or none of this could be true. At the end of the day, none of us knows anything beyond what we are told by the media. Video footage might be AI. Still, we apply the logical fallacy known as “Appeal to Authority” and form a conclusion regarding the state of our nation and the world. We commiserate with like-minded peers in our respective echo chambers and discuss what should be done about and to the other side.

“Commiserate” means to falsely estimate.

Now Renee Nichole Good has been shot dead by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota is best known for the death of George Floyd. According to the left, he was killed by the knee of Derek Chauvin.  The right claims he died of a methamphetamine and fentanyl overdose.

Right-wing media reported that Ms. Good had a rap sheet filled with protest-related charges. ICE was trying to apprehend her when she attempted to flee and purposefully ran into the ICE agent who then shot her dead. Given that she was the mother of a six-year-old child, JD Vance among others, wondered about her priorities. Why was she interfering with a law enforcement operation? After all illegal immigration is a crime.

Those on the left say ICE is the strong arm of the white supremacist Gestapo. They are now out to get white women, not just people of color. Ms. Good was just passing through when she got caught in the demonstration. No law enforcement officer should ever jump in front of a moving vehicle to block it.

Those on the right point out that Ms. Good was a lesbian who divorced her husband. The offending ICE agent is a Christian and married to an immigrant. False equivalencies abound ad infinitum.

The left is appalled that armed masked men have descended on their communities and are questioning everyone in a Nazi-style “papers please!” format. One mental health professional asked, “Where are the de-escalation skills?” “Just obey the law and comply!” Cries the right. “The feds are breaking the law!” the left replies.

“Nichole Good was just afraid!” says the left. “The ICE officer had been dragged by a vehicle in a previous incident. He feared for his life!” Says the right. “Nazis!” Cries the left. “Communists!” Cries the right. The right demands that Trump implement the Insurrection Act. The left declares its time to blow up police stations and begin an insurrection. Both sides claim it will be bad for the other.

I just listened to a left-leaning Marine Veteran of Fallujah explain that insurrection is upon us and a lot of people are going to die. Like gasoline on smoldering coals, each event creates more violent rhetoric. “Trump wants civil war so he can cancel the mid-term elections!” Says the left. “The Democrats want insurrection to distract from their fraud!” Says the right. Once again, some, none, or all of that could be true.  Meanwhile as many as six thousand protesters have been killed in the current Iranian insurrection.

Is that what people want?

In my opinion it’s one big satanic psyop. You know a Psyop by F.A.T.E. Focus, Authority, Tribe, and Emotion.

An event happens that jerks the collective focus onto it. Authority, namely politicians and the media, defines and declares what happened or is happening. People commiserate within their respective tribal groups, e g Right or Left. Emotion is generated and sustained by rehtoric and a consensus is formed. Each subsequent event results in a positive feedback loop until both sides become increasingly escalated and begin killing each other. And the devil smiles. He smiles because he knows that he can do nothing to us. He can only convince us to do it to ourselves. This is world history in a nutshell.

I could be wrong, but as I see it all signs point to our being close to the end. If that is the case then we know that a third of mankind will be killed in the process. Rev 9:14-18

If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Revelation 13:10

Hence the current mark in time and enactment of Jesus’s words.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Mathew 7:13-14

Narrow is thlíbō
to suffer tribulation, trouble, press (as in crushing grapes to make wine).

– Strongs Concordance 2346-

The time has come for all believers to walk the narrow way. The narrow way is marked by two ditches, one on the left and the other on the right. Genuine believers will not be duped into falling into either one because neither is correct let alone good. No one is good. There are no political or economic solutions to a spiritual problem. We will be pressed and despised by those in both ditches.

Jesus warned about the leaven of Herod, the Pharisees, and Sadducees in Mathew 16 and Mark 8. That leaven is of the world and the religious/political spirit. It is the knowledge of good and evil. It is this leaven that confused Peter, such that he denied Jesus three times when he swore he would give his life. It was this leaven that drove him to attack Malchus in Gethsemane and later argue with God three times over what he could eat in Acts 10. It is the leaven that will drive brother to deliver up brother and the love of many to grow cold. This leaven is the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is self-righteous and rebellious. Therefore, be sober, be watchful. 1 Peter 5:8 Prepare to endure in love as lawlessness grows. Mathew 24:12-13

“No more of this!” means exactly that,  His Kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 We are in the world not of it. John 17:16

Sweep the leaven from your soul.

Preach the Gospel

Stay out of the ditch.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Holy Spirit Baptism

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Acts 8:14-16

The gospel going to Samaria was the beginning of the Church’s growth that proceeded as a result of Saul’s persecution.

Most of the group discussion last week revolved around the subject of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Everyone in attendance had received it. Each person gave testimony of receiving it.

The questions that preceeded it were,

  1. Is it a separate event or does everyone receive it at baptism?
  2. What is the evidence of it?

Some people received it when they were baptized. The evidence one cited was that the scripture suddenly made sense for the first time. One person had a demon cast out of them. One received the gift of radical love and the power to forgive. One received the gift of tongues. All agreed that a passion for God’s word was a result of the experience.

As Phillip proceeds on his journey, he runs into an Ethiopian Eunuch who just happened to be reading from Isaiah 53.

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.

Isaiah 53:7

Isaiah 53 prophesied the crucifixion of Jesus 700 years before Jesus was born. It is the very chapter that led Moishe Rosen to surrender to Jesus as Messiah. He went on to found Jews for Jesus in 1973. Isaiah 53 is dismissed or even forbidden by contemporary Rabis.

When the Ethiopian Eunuch understood the meaning of what he was reading, he immediately asked to be baptized.

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Acts 8:39-40

Caught away is harpázō the same word used to describe the rapture.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Harpázō
to seize, catch (away, up), pluck, pull, carry off by force, claim for one’s self eagerly, to snatch out or away.

-Strongs Concordance-

While this is a side note, or a squirrel as we say in our Bible study group, it occurs to me that while the rapture is certain, the destination is not clear. Philip was harpazoed from Samaria to Cesarea about fifty miles away.

Revelations 12 and 13 describe the three and a half year tribulation from which the woman (the elect) is preserved.

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Revelation 12:5

The only place harpazo is found in Revelation is in verse 5 speaking about Jesus in Daniel 7:13-14 and Acts 1:9-11. Even so, harpazo is implied for the remnant church.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation 12:6

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Revelation 12:14

What do you think?

If you are a regular reader you will notice that my weekly blog posts have dropped off. This is because I am writing a book. I’ll let you all know when it is published later next year.

Maranatha!

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

Saul of Tarsus


And Saul approved of his (Steven’s) execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Acts 8:1

Saul was a Roman citizen in Tarsus, one of, if not the most significant, trade hubs in the ancient world. After being trained in one of the most lucrative trades namely tent making, Saul went to Jerusalem to study theology under Gamaliel (remember Acts 5) for seven years. Some say this was the equivalent of two PhDs. Suffice it to say that Saul was revered. Hence, Steven’s killers laid his clothing at Saul’s feet. However, in sanctioning Steven’s murder Saul was guilty of breaking multiple laws. Capital punishment by local authorities was prohibited under Roman law without prior approval from the Roman government.  Jewish law required the testimony of two or more witnesses. Also, stoning was required to be carried out outside the city gates. This was an impulsive murder by a mob driven by emotion.  Saul went on to persecute believers en masse. Later he would refer to himself as the lowest of the low.

…We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

1 Cor 4:13

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

1 Timothy 1:15

Based on verse 4 in Acts 8, 
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word; it appears that Saul’s persecution of believers was a catalyst for the propagation of the Gospel message. Historically speaking, persecution has been one of the most effective means of promoting the Gospel. The question in my mind is, is this God’s plan, or is He merely causing what the devil means for harm to accomplish His will?

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:28-29

We know that the process of conforming something requires pressure. Tribulation, persecution, affliction, suffering, etc., are Thilipsis in Greek and mean pressure. Our character is conformed to the image of Christ when we endure or persevere under pressure.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

Christians are being persecuted and martyred for their faith all over the world as I write and you read. The graphic video below is from Darfur, Sudan. It happened just a few days ago. If this is hard to handle, how will you handle the same if it happens to you or someone you love? Ask yourself, what is idolatry? What does faithlessness look like in the context of our lives now and in the context of persecution? What is the definition of cowardice?

What do you think? Is our health, wealth, and comfort in this life God’s primary goal? Should the content of our conversation be food, entertainment, and worldly gossip, a.k.a the community news? Or should we be preparing our hearts and minds for something else?

Be sure you’re right. Then go ahead.

Davy Crockett

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Revelation 21:8
Mediate on that.

Maranatha