Jared Longshore's Blog, page 37

Joe Rogan, Matt Walsh, and the Duty of Having Kids

I caught some of the recent interview between Matt Walsh and Joe Rogan. The last third of their exchange is where the action picked up. Rogan easily agreed with Walsh about the folly of transgenderism. But when gay marriage and the duty of procreation came up, there was a collision of worldviews. It was particularly gripping to listen to Rogan’s analysis which was as modern as these iced over roads out here in Idaho are slick. My guess is that the majority of Americans in their 60s and under agree with Rogan’s general sentiment that people have a right to play the whole marriage and procreation thing however they’d like. And that sentiment is one of the key reasons that our civilization is in the soup.

Rogan’s take is that gay marriage doesn’t damage straight marriage. He cannot understand how two men getting hitched changes a bond that Walsh has with his wife. He conceives of marriage in subjective terms. It is simply a man-made institution. Gay marriage cannot be wrong because it is a personal choice that doesn’t impact the personal marriages of straight people. Along these lines, he does not believe procreation is a duty of wedlock so the married who want to travel, read, and hit the art scene without the hassle of children are free to do so.

Now in the first place, it must be robustly affirmed that traveling, reading, and looking at art are all wonderful activities. And they are even more fun with children. Yes, children are work. No, life is not better without them. Yes, it is a good idea to go on a date night without the kids so you can look at the art without changing diapers and such. But any married couples who intentionally forgo children entirely in order to travel the world, spending their strength and energy only on themselves, do what is contrary to nature, fruitfulness, and happiness. 

In the second place, the outright self-centeredness of Rogan’s analysis pierces the ear like the furious toddler at Walmart who is sounding off like an off key bagpipe at the dedication of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. This young lad’s mother has finally put her foot down and little man will not be getting the full size Power Ranger that he had his heart set on. One wants to ask Rogan (and again he is largely representative of the modern mind), “Are you not at all a fan of the human race?” I know we have our problems. But do you really want to be the proponent of the ethical system that says, “Ah, forget about peopling the earth, we’ve got art to see.” Don’t you know who makes that art? People. Don’t you know who flies the plane so you can take that trip to the Bahamas? People. No people, soon and very soon, no one to open the doors at that downtown coffee shop where you like to do your reading.

In the third position, we must come down to a definition of marriage. Rogan says that it is a subjective, man-made institution. And that is the fundamental error. If we made marriage up, then perhaps we could do whatever we’d like to with it. But we didn’t make it up. Moses tells us, “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). Our Lord himself said, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6).

The ground level truth is God simply does not join a man and another man in marriage. They can take the vows. They can sign the papers. But there is no marriage because God simply doesn’t do that kind of thing.

Going back to Rogan’s take then. He doesn’t see the problem with two men getting married. He doesn’t think it harms heterosexual marriage. Well, in one sense he is right. The knock-off cannot harm the genuine article. Same-sex marriage is no marriage at all. The only real marriage that exists is the kind that God himself instituted. And the man-made thing won’t outlast the God-ordained thing. Even so, the problems are manifold when a society agrees to pretend that gay marriage is real. Perhaps I can illustrate one of those problems with the following illustration.

Rogan has been heavily involved in the UFC, the world’s leading mixed martial arts organization. Now imagine that we set up that iconic cage, deck out the mat with the UFC logo, arrange the stadium, music, and commentators in UFC fashion, but when the main event comes, the men who take to the ring are ballet dancers dressed in hot pink tutus who proceed to dance one of the best Nutcracker’s you have ever seen. At the conclusion of this performance, we all agree that what we have just witnessed is genuine UFC. Some of the best UFCing we’ve ever seen. If that kind of rhetoric caught on, could we really say that all is well with the UFC? I don’t see how the UFC Swan Lake 2023 harms that big upcoming UFC fight at Madison Square Garden.

It stands to reason that the founders and president of the UFC get to determine the nature of the UFC. And so it is with marriage, a divine institution.

Those who establish an institution also determine its purpose. And God has done just that with marriage. He told us in the beginning, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). The duty of procreation comes with wedlock. And this is no harm to our liberty. The self-centered spirit of the age insists that children are nothing but a hassle. But the Christian witness runs in the opposite direction. God has not only told us to be fruitful. He has promised us in Christ that great blessing comes with them—

“They shall not build, and another inhabit; They shall not plant, and another eat: For as the days of a tree are the days of my people, And mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, Nor bring forth for trouble; For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, And their offspring with them” (Isaiah 65:22-23).

Worship as Warfare in our Christian Nation

So it is evident that a time of reformation is upon us. I was just down in Twin Falls, Idaho for an Idaho Family Policy Center conference. The folks assembled were what you might call dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. One of the speakers informed us about an LGBTQ event up in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where a Drag Queen twerked outdoors, on a stage downtown before all of the children, and then his man parts fell out of his undergarments for all eyes to see. Now this is certainly an abomination. But it is the kind of abomination that reminds us that God loves us and wants us to be happy. 

The ungodly have an idea that they would love to realize. That is the idea that boys can be girls, the future is up to us, you can be whatever you want to be, and victory comes through being true to yourself. Then out popped this man’s genitalia and the whole plan was spoiled. Come to find out, boys can’t be girls. And this whole Drag event was nothing but Cosplay.

Here is the lesson for the faithful. We must not separate what God has joined together. We are certainly doing this separating with husband and wife. We are doing this separating with biology and sexual identity. And we have done this kind of thing with heaven and earth. We pretend as if they have nothing whatever to do with one another. But the very mystery of our Father’s will is that “he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (Ephesians 1:10). Jesus, of course, has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). And when the saints turn from their wicked ways, then God will “hear in heaven . . . and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Too many evangelicals have the idea that God will hear in heaven and heal them in heaven. That leaves them attempting to fix the earth themselves, far too often with earthly means. Very often it leaves them setting up an earthly god-king, like Saul, who will heal their land. Now, they still swear their allegiance to the God of heaven in theory. But the God of heaven rules in heaven and their little earthly Nebuchadnezzar rules on earth. This faulty arrangement of things has to be thrown on the ash heap.

When God gave Moses particular designs for the tabernacle, these designs were mapped off the true tent not made with hands (Hebrews 8:5; 9:24). God wanted an earthly tabernacle where his glory actually dwelt. Geerhardus Vos has said, “The tabernacle represented not merely symbolically the indwelling of God among Israel, but actually contained it” (Biblical Theology, 154). And, “In the time of Moses, a system of types is established, so that the whole organism of the world of redemption, as it were, finds a typical embodiment on earth” (Biblical Theology, 147). 

When Vos speaks of typical embodiment, he means that this world of redemption was really there on the ground in the Mosaic system. We are prone to think that this world we live in down here is nothing but shadows. But even the Old Testament tabernacle was not the type, but the antitype of the heavenly tabernacle. How much more solid then is the temple of the Lord in the new covenant? We are living stones being built together. We are on earth and we are a dwelling place for God. If the glory filled the Old Testament temple such that the priests could not enter, ow much more palpable in the new (2 Chronicles 5:14)?

Worship

What does all of this have to do with worship? Well, God actually changes things down here when his people worship. He levelled the walls of Jericho in just this fashion. He sent down fire on Mount Carmel in the same manner. But that was the Old Testament you say. In the New Testament, God doesn’t do that kind of stuff anymore, we are a spiritual people. And there lies our problem. We think because we are a spiritual people, we are no longer a physical people. We think because we are a heavenly people, it follows that we are no longer an earthly people. We have relegated God’s acts of power to the soul, the mind, the heavens, and the unseen realm. Of course, God’s acts of power fill all of these domains. And every one of them bear fruit in corresponding domains: the body, the earth, the seen things, the courthouses and governor’s mansions.

There was a reason that the priests were sent out to stand in the Jordan River holding the ark of the covenant before all Israel passed through to conquer Canaan (Joshua 3:17). There is a reason that Jehoshaphat stood before the people of Judah when they were under physical threat and said, “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chronicles 20:20). Jehoshaphat followed this up by appointing singers unto the LORD to go out to the battle before the army—”And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mout Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten” (2 Chronicles 20:22).

We live under the new covenant and we worship the same God. He has not changed. He still exalts nations according to their righteousness (Proverbs 13:34) And the new covenant is better than the old, not worse. So we will experience more of the Lord’s potency, not less. For we “are come to mount Sion, and unto the city of the living god, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:22). That “are come” is in the perfect tense. It was an experience that the recipients of the letter had already encountered. It was an abiding reality for them and for us. 

But, how could they have come to the heavenly Jerusalem when they were very much still on earth? Well, worship is warfare. 

On the Spanking of Rumps

The bible is unambiguous about the requirement for parents to discipline their children. If we get uncomfortable about such teaching, then our issue really is with God the Father. His teaching is plain:

Proverbs 22:15

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him

Proverbs 23:13

“Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.”

Proverbs 29:15

The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”

Proverbs 13:24

“Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”

There’s no way of getting around the issue. The world will say that if you discipline your son, you hate him. And God says that if you don’t discipline your son, you hate him. It is a good idea to side with the apostles on this one and say, “We must obey God rather than man.”

The underlying disdain for the rod is ultimately an underlying disdain for discipline and correction. Many have bought the lie that independence is freedom. If a child cannot do his own thing in his own way, the he is reckoned a slave. That is a pernicious lie. One that is the exact opposite of the truth. The whole gentle parenting movement is the one producing little slaves. In such a model, the kiddos are taught to say “Sir, yes sir” to their passions every time. The result of this kind of thing is death—Proverbs 5:23 “He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.”Proverbs 19:18 “Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.” Along with death, comes stupidity: Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates reproof is stupid.”

Some Particulars

With the general teaching set before us, there are some particulars to address.

First, the use of the rod is not punishment but training. The picture in your mind (and the child’s) must not be that of a vertical line with good on one side and bad on the other, “You crossed the line little man and now you’re going to suffer the punishment.” That’s not the right sentiment. Fathers are to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, not the nurture and admonition of the soul-sucking legalism. The child whom you discipline is with you, having God as Father, Christ as Sanctifier, and the little man is a partaker of the Holy Spirit as you are. You’re use of the rod must not smell of sulfur and condemnation. It is a model of the Good Shepherd’s rod that leads us down paths of righteousness.

Second, your use of the rod must be calm and measured. If you cannot discipline your emotions, then you have no business disciplining your child. The Bible, of course, tells you to discipline your child so you must get to disciplining your emotions. Circumstances will vary with age, sex, and other factors, but in the main it is wise to ask the child why you pulled them over. Have him acknowledge where he went wrong. Reassure him of love. Say how many swats will be administered to the hind parts. And ensure he is in fellowship with you afterward. 

Third, move on with joy. There is no sulking after discipline. There are no grudges on the part of parent or child. Hebrews tells us that the Father disciplines those whom he loves. If we are left without discipline, we are bastards and not legitimate sons. So we move on thanking the Lord that he turns the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

Fourth, keep the discipline private. Love covers a multitude of sins so don’t go storytelling or telegraphing your child’s encounter with the paddle. You may live in an open carry state when it comes to firearms. But I recommend concealed carry if you’re carrying around a wonder wand. 

Fifth, use wisdom and good judgment when determining when to discipline. Parents should expect cheerful obedience right away. So in the main, if there is disrespect instead of cheer or delayed obedience (age appropriate of course), then you’re in the discipline zone. 

Sixth, the rod should be used in the little years and weaned off as the children grow. 

Seventh, there is nothing wrong with regrouping and repenting when the general tenor of the home is grumpy and undisciplined. There are times when dad and mom need to gather up the children and say, “We’ve been raising our voice, repeating ourselves, getting frustrated with you, and the whole thing just hasn’t been what it needs to be. That’s all on us and we ask you to forgive us.” After forgiveness is extended and received, follow up with, “We’re now renewing our commitment to cheerfulness in the home, sacrificial love, and the simple use of the love paddle when needed.” 

Eighth, and this final point is more general and paradigm setting, raise your kids according to an upside down triangle. Many parents raise their children according to a regular old triangle. It is wide at the bottom when the children are young. There is little correction at this time when they are small. Then parents start to tighten down as the child grows. The child receives less and less privileges until the situation is bottlenecking with the teenagers who will abide by your rules as long as their under your roof and what not. We find at this stage that we are the champions of discipline, bringing the hammer down as they say.

My recommendation is to flip that triangle upside down. The little ones need lots of correction. Yes, try to give them a world full of yeses and a few solid nos. This is good advice and maps on to what our Father did with the trees in the Garden of Eden. But this teaching can be misappropriated by some such that their little children are simply hog wild. Don’t be heavy handed of course. But do set clear parameters for small children. They can be trained to sit still. They can be trained to come when you call. They can be trained to sit when you tell them to sit and stay when they tell you to stay. Your child has better stuff going for him than your German Shepherd.

Add to this not running in crowded spaces where there are elderly people, looking older people in the eyes and saying hello, firm handshakes, and speaking up. Boys do well to stand behind their chairs at dinner until mom and sisters sit down. 

All of this takes hard work. It is training. And as the children grow, they will have the self-control and discipline required for greater liberties and responsibilities. Take the training wheels off and let them ride. None of this is new. But it is good sound wisdom. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Christian Nationalism: A Reply to Jonathan Leeman

Jonathan Leeman has written a recent article in which he recommends that we reject Christian Nationalism because it misrepresents Jesus. Leeman distinguishes between “influencers” and “identifiers.” He is in favor of Christianity influencing the nation and its laws (these are the influencers). But he is not in favor of the nation and its government identifying as Christian (these are the identifiers). 

I imagine this proposal will make a lot of sense to many American evangelicals. We are well into a conversation about Christian Nationalism. And I see no sign of this conversation letting up. Moreover, there are going to be many roads sprawling off of this discussion and this particular path regarding the legitimacy of “naming” is but one of them. 

Why are we in for a nice long conversation? Well, even the most adamant “wall of separation” folks among us are starting to see that there is always a god of the system. They’re seeing the prophets and priests of the new religion. They’re not on board with celebrating the religious liberty manifesting itself down at the local Drag Queen story hour, where Big Rob is shaking his tail-feather at the town’s 1st graders.

I am grateful that Leeman wants to see Christianity influence the nation. And I want to commend that after Christianity has influenced a nation, acknowledging what that nation has become is not anti-gospel. Put simply, if Christianity does influence a given nation, as Leeman and many want it to, what do you have after that influence? You have one nation under the Triune God. You have a nation that has realized and acknowledged that Christ is Lord.

As we are sorting out some of these particulars, it is worth noting that there are lots of supporting arguments under the water of the various positions. And that is certainly going on when it comes to whether to call a nation Christian or not. With that said, I will give the thrust of Leeman’s concern about calling a nation Christian, and then offer three points arguing that calling a nation Christian really won’t be all that bad.

Leeman’s concern is that if you call a nation Christian, then you will confuse people about who represents Jesus. It is the church’s job to identify Christians. And giving the title of Christian to the nation will have troubling consequences downstream. It will mislead people about what a Christian is, inoculate false professors against true Christianity, and make evangelism and missions harder. According to Leeman, the stakes are high. At the end of the day, the consequences of this naming error, “sends people to hell.” He adds, “No longing for what America once was—and in some ways I do—is worth all that.”

Leeman is right about the significance of naming. Some might say, “We need to be more Christian around here, but I don’t care what you call it.” Leeman is not making that mistake. He knows naming is important. I agree with him. It is also true that the name “Christian” should not be thrown around arbitrarily. If a man calls himself a Muslim and worships Allah, then we have no warrant to go around calling him a Christian. By the same token, if you have a whole nation of men who call themselves Muslim and worship Allah, then you have no right to call that nation a Christian one. 

But the issue at hand is whether you can call a given nation Christian without misrepresenting Christ, confusing unbelievers about the way of salvation, and aiding them on their journey to the outer darkness. I contend that you can for the following three reasons.

First, our nation is led by representatives that God himself has called his ministers (Romans 13:4). If our Lord has no objection to calling our civil authorities his servants, then why should we object? I imagine Jonathan would reply, “I have no problem calling our civil authorities God’s servants.” OK, good. And is this God the Christian God? Yes, he is. It follows that the leaders of our nation, biblically defined, are ministers and servants of the Christian God. And they represent us, the nation. 

Someone may quibble with this first argument. But I don’t see the wiggle room. If someone recommends “Triune God Nationalism” or “Christian God Nationalism,” or “One Nation Whose Leaders Serve Yahweh,” that is quite fine with me. We have still established that we should have no problem naming the nation and its leaders because God has already named them his servants. 

Now, you say, but each of these civil leaders, whom God has called his ministers, have not experienced the new birth. You are exactly right. And that has not stopped the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost from calling them, the leaders of the nation, his ministers. Romans 13. 

Second, the work of the Great Commission and our Christian Public Witness involve this naming. Upon his resurrection, Christ said to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). It is a heavy lift to say that Christ commands us to baptize the nations in the Triune name, but we should not identify such nations with the Triune name. I know there are arguments to support just that proposal. But, to make that case you end up having to say the opposite of the plain reading of the text. And that is the kind of exegesis that makes John MacArthur tap one of his deacons on the shoulder and say, “Hold my Fresca.”

Likewise, we hear our public witness in Psalm 2 where the faithful say to the kings, “Kiss the Son, lest ye perish in the way.” Again, what do you do when the kings heed your preaching? What do you call such civil authorities and their jurisdictions after they kiss the Son? Can you not call that nation a Christian Nation? Would it be better to call it “A Nation Whose Leaders Have Kissed the Christ, the Son of the Living God?” This too is fine with me. But I don’t think Russell Moore will be any happier with it.

Third, now is the perfect time to come to grips with the fact that the United States of America is and has already been called a Christian nation. We’re not evangelizing a pagan land. We are ministering in a nation that long ago identified as Christian. Now someone is going to say, “And it didn’t work back then so why do you want to do it now?” But this question misses the point. The point is not that naming a nation Christian is the silver bullet that will keep it faithful. The point is that back when people had no issue with calling ourselves a Christian nation, back in the days of our forefathers when Christian catechisms were employed in the public schools, Brutus wasn’t posted up in the stall next to your 7 year old daughter. That nonsense is going on now while we speak of the terrible evils that will come upon us if we say that we are one nation under Christ. 

Look at our money, “One nation under God.” Say our pledge, “One nation under God.” Sing our songs, “God bless America.” Examine the religion of our presidents. Take a look at the 55 men at the Constitutional Convention. 50 of them were Christians. Then there is the 1892 Supreme Court case where the court itself wrote, “this is a religious people . . . [T]his is a Christian nation.” Walk into the legislative halls all across this land, you will find the name of our Lord there again, carved in stone.

We are not having a debate about whether to place the name of our Lord on the nation. He has already seen fit to do so. We are having a debate about whether to stride in our pride down to the court house like a rebellious son and renounce the name of our Father, the name he has given us.

What Happens if You Curse God and Repent?

One of the lovely things about the kingdom of God is that we didn’t all come in the same way. Some of us, like Timothy, grew up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, never knowing a day when God was not our God. Others of us, like Rahab, came in after years of rebellion. No one deserves the mercy we find in Christ. And some among us were high-handed blasphemers before the Lord caused us to bow the knee. 

God displays just this kind of mercy in 2 Samuel 19.

The Text – A Summary

 David had turned a day of victory into a day of mourning given the death of his son, Absalom (v. 2). Confronted by Joab, David gathered himself and spoke encouraging words to his victorious army (v. 8). Panic struck Israel (v. 9). Would they have David back after anointing Absalom as their ruler (v. 10). They agree to bring David back as their king. But what does that mean for some of the leading character involved in Absalom’s rebellion? What does it mean for Shimei? A few chapters back, we saw Shimei throwing stones at David as he departed Jerusalem. David would not strike him down then. But perhaps he was willing to upon his return across the Jordan and back into Jerusalem. 

Shimei went quickly to meet David, crossing over the Jordan River to meet the advancing king. Shimei fell down before the king (v. 17), and repented, asking for mercy (v. 19). Abishai wanted to put him to death. But David said, “Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?” Then King David swore to Shimei that he would not die (v. 23). 

Mephibosheth the son of Saul too came to see David, testifying his allegiance to the king. And Barzillai the Gileadite, who had supplied David when he fled Absalom, saw David across the Jordan. David welcomed him to come live in Jerusalem. But Barzillai was 80 years old, and he asked David to take his servant Chimham in his place. 

David’s return to Jerusalem resulted in tensions between Israel in the north and Judah in the south (v. 41).

Repentance and Mercy

Shimei was in the soup. He was a big man when the king was leaving Jerusalem. But now the chickens were coming home, as they say. Shimei may have cursed the king. But he was not beyond asking for mercy. And because he bent his neck, he got to keep his head.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the kind of King who good and kind to the undeserving. There are many Shimei’s in his kingdom. And this is encouragement to every God-curser out there to turn while you still can and find mercy bowing before the King. 

The plain truth is that there is no time to wait. Today is the day of salvation. Shimei went to King David in haste (v. 16). He got to David before he crossed the Jordan and came back into the Promised Land. The fact that the Bible tells us that piece of the story is not without significance. The king was coming back to his land. We hear in Matthew 21:40 that the Lord of the vineyard will come to his vineyard and destroy the ungodly. 

When that day comes, and Christ splits not the Jordan River but the heavens and returns, once he is through those heavens it will be too late. By the same token, once you return to the dust, it will be too late just the same. Psalm 95 says, “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.” You are promised no tomorrow.

But the King whom you have cursed is merciful. Bow before him like Shimei, and you to will not die.

Reformation Now or Else It’s the Great Evangelical Castration

I took a trip down to Leavenworth, Kansas where there is a wonderful work of God going on at Christ Church Leavenworth. I had several conversations with Christians about how potent the place seemed to be. These were Christians, many in their 30s with a satchel of kids. Several grew up Southern Baptist. Many tried out Acts 29. But through COVID, it was as if they joined that orphaned Arabian boy on a magic carpet ride. They came to discover a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view.

It was not merely a matter of disliking their spiritual leaders tying heavy mask burdens on their backs. These saints picked up on the sketchy root that produced the ugly fruit of their leaders bowing down before the CDC. They came to see the same through the BLM riots. The Reformed Worship and community of Christ Church Leavenworth, a CREC church, felt something like opening a steaming hot oven in the middle of a cold winter. It hit them in the face, and they were warmed, filled, deeply encouraged.

This trip reminded me of the state of Christianity in America. We really are dealing with a sheep without a shepherd situation. We are dealing with a chickens coming home to roost situation. We are dealing with a “we don’t know how many idols we’ve been bowing down to” situation. COVID and the BLM Riots were evidence. 

They were moments of unmasking. They were not the substance of the problem. If you grasp this last point, then you will be in a good position to lead your family in the coming days. If this point doesn’t make sense to you, then you really must spend some time with it. So I’ll take another stab at it.

Your churches requiring you to mask, or your churches politely recommending you to mask with pastors cool shaming you if you didn’t . . . was a symptom. Now, many of the symptoms have passed. Even the United Airlines flight that I took back from Kansas City the other day didn’t require me to wear a mask. So the masking is behind us. And the big, fat, whopping rot that motivated Christian Leaders to prostrate themselves before the CDC and bind you with burdens to heavy to carry is still right in our midst.

The kind of reformation we need is one that will displace people. The kind of reformation we need is one that will dissolve many of the present evangelical institutions that we know and love and reform others such that you couldn’t recognize them after that reformation.

You can find plenty of Conservative Christians who are not satisfied with the present order. They don’t want Drag Queen Story Hour, no matter how David French touts it as “a blessing of liberty.”[1] These right-minded conservatives are not happy with Obergefell. They will likely send their kids to Hillsdale or New Saints Andrews College. They will vote the right way in the coming election. And thanks be to God for all of that faithfulness. But here is the important message for these conservatives: The reformation work in front of us runs all the way down to the foundations. 

Like the temple mount in Jerusalem, those faithful foundations are way down there. Our fathers would not have abided Drag Queen Story Hour. Our fathers would not have winked at boys using the girls bathroom at their local tax-payer funded school. Our fathers would have snuffed out any hint of sending their daughters into military combat. They couldn’t even conceive of the perversion we permit in our land. Moreover, the freedom that they had, which is the freedom that we must recover, would scare many saints. 

Reformation Now

Many of the sheep do not know exactly what is going on. They are sheep without a shepherd. But many of the leaders, and I am referring to evangelical leaders who have drifted slowly and over time, do know what is going on, or at least they should. But to reform now would require heading back down the mountain like Christian’s repentance in Pilgrim’s Progress. Reformation would cost something. And the present order in American Evangelicalism is something like the Titanic. It is a big ship, sinking slowly. If you have a nice cozy spot high enough on that ship, you can ride it out in prosperity, even if that means your people drown and your sons become eunuchs in Babylon, where they celebrate the rights of the kiddos to sit at the feet of the gyrating transvestites at the public library. 

Several of these leaders are on their way out. And like Hezekiah, after hearing that all the treasure of the house which they lead will go to Babylon, after hearing that their very sons will be castrated servants in the palace of Babylon’s king, these leaders say, “Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days” (2 Kings 20:19)?

Some may not care about the coming generations. But those who do must get down to the work of reformation. Here’s what a start looks like:

Find a church that cares more about what God thinks in its worship than what guests think. 

Remove your children from governments schools immediately and sacrifice to put them in a Classical Christian School.

Refuse to use the pronouns, and be willing to be fired for it.

Reject the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion outright. And chuckle at the well-to-do white liberals with their BLM yard signs who actually know nothing about black people and black culture.

Rejoice over your children. Catechize them. Remind them always that they are holy, loved by the Father, and that Christ has sanctified them by the blood of his covenant. Train them. And do this training in a holistic way, imbedding them in a community and family that worships the Triune God.

Sing the psalms, and find a church that will serve the Lord’s Supper every Sunday and know why they do it. 

Laugh, and make others laugh. Add to this hospitality with food. Kingdoms have been built from women who not only know how to cook but do it, and do it well. You cannot defeat people who are holy and having a good time. You cannot enslave women who laugh at the time to come and men who know that there are more with us than are with them. 

My encouragement to you is that you find saints who exude this kind of faithfulness. These are those who believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are dead with Christ. And they are risen with him. They are happy with the stream that makes glad the city of our God. It is past time to join them. Sacrifices are in order. I make no promise that the changes necessary will be comfortable. It is far easier to point out all of the problems than it is to start building brick by brick on the right foundation. It is far easier to disobey and remain disgruntled.

But the hard way is full of joy. It is laced with word, water, bread, and wine. 

Jesus said that the man who obeys will know the doctrine (John 7:17). But if you only observe the doctrine from afar without obeying, then you stop advancing in the truth. I have met several saints who eventually meet doctrines or practices that they know are biblical, but to actually believe and obey those doctrines is too costly. So they ponder them. They think about what it would look like if they actually got on with obedience. They debate the matter. But the debate is pointless. It is not a matter of them being intellectually convinced about what they need to do. It is a matter of them acting like men, and doing what God has said. They know what God has told them to do. But they will not do it. And they will pretend like they are not convinced of the truth to ease their conscience and keep their donor base, their comfortable circumstances, 

Going out like Abraham seems like too far a leap. But he is our father. Going to the cross like Christ seems like too much. But he is our Redeemer and we are dead with him—”I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

[1] https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/david-french-sohrab-ahmari-and-the-battle-for-the-future-of-conservatism

The Trees Are Alive With The Sound Of Music

The Bible is a book that won’t let you forget our Redeemer. The world is the same, if you have ears to hear. The trees don’t only come alive in the fairy books. They are very much alive here in the real world, which is more like the fairy books than moderns admit. The trees die every Fall. They are resurrected every Spring. These trees clap their hands while mountains sing (Isaiah 55:12). The trees tell you something. They have been doing so from the beginning when our father Adam walked in the garden God planted.

The trees tell us a familiar story in 2 Samuel 18.

The Text – A Summary

David was East of the Jordan, a reminder of Cain being East of Eden. He was in exile and his very own son brought about his departure from Jerusalem. David was in such a precarious position, he had just been served by the lowly. The Ammonites, that rebellious nation formed by Lot’s incestuous immorality with his youngest daughter, brought David provisions in the wilderness. The King of Israel also received blessings from the hand Machir who live in Lo-debar, or “no-pasture” (2 Samuel 17:27).

David’s son, Absalom, was coming for his life and kingdom. So David arranged his forces (2 Samuel 18:1). The king loved his rebellious son. He commanded the heads of his military to deal gently with Absalom (v. 5). He said this publicly and his army heard him. 

The battle was fought in the wood of Ephraim, just east of the Jordan River which Joshua had crossed some years before. 20,000 men were slain in a day, and the forest devoured more of the men than the sword (v. 8). The trees were on the side of David, one of them in particular. 

Absalom rode his mule under an oak. And the oak pierced through the shaggy hair of his head, suspending him between heaven and earth as the mule rode out from under him. 

A certain man saw him hanging there vulnerably and reported the news to Joab. Joab was indignant and would have been happy to pay the man pieces of silver had he slaughtered Absalom in the tree. Joab was willing to pay silver coins like the Jewish Leaders did in Christ’s day to get the bloody job done. 

Joab found Absalom, still suspended by the oak, and he drove three darts or javelins into his heart. David’s men took Absalom down and piled a heap of stones on him in that forest. Absalom had no son. But he wanted to be remembered. Upon Absalom’s death, we are told that in former times, he had set up a pillar in the king’s valley near Jerusalem so that he would be remembered. That is the same valley in which the King of Sodom once tried to enrich Abraham to no avail. Abraham was more concerned with God receiving glory in that valley.

News had to get back to David about his victory and his son’s death. Ahimaaz the son of Zadok the High Priest wanted to run to David to deliver the news. But Joab refused. Joab then sent a man named Cushi. This Cushi is likely a Cushite, a foreigner not an Israelite. And Ahimaaz is the well-known son of the High Priest himself. The foreigner sprinted to carry the news to David. And Ahimaaz asks Joab once again for permission to run. Joab granted it. And Ahimaaz, being more familiar with the land than the Cushite, outran him by taking a better route. 

Ahimaaz fell before the face of the king and shared news that his enemies were defeated. When the anxious king asked about his son Absalom, Ahimaaz avoided the question. The Cushite then arrived and broke the news that the king’s son was dead.

David cried out for his condemned son as he went to his chamber, weeping, “Absalom, my son, my son, would God that I had died for thee” (v. 33).

Hanged on a Tree

As I said before, the Bible is a marvelous book that won’t let us forget our Redeemer. Sometimes, we even question the way it reminds us, “Are you really making that comparison?” we ask.

The pattern is hard to miss. Absalom is a son of David. He rides a mule to be hung on a tree. And a soldier drives three javelins into his body. Our Lord is a son of David. He rode a colt to be hung on a tree. And a soldier drove a spear into his side while on that tree.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”

Absalom was certainly defiling the land. He had defiled his father’s wives in the sight of all Israel. He was a divider of the brethren. And God would not allow the Promised Land to be corrupted. 

But the ultimate fulfillment of this tree curse is found in our Savior. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

The curse of the law certainly involves condemnation, hell itself is the result of our sin. And so is pain in childbearing and the thorns and thistles that come from our labor. Israel was not the only people promised a land. We have been given all things in Christ. All things belong to the covenant people of God, including the world (1 Corinthians 3:21). We would corrupt the whole thing. We would pollute the land like Absalom. But the Greater Son of David was hung on the cursed tree like Absalom hung in that wood of Ephraim. 

We have been redeemed from the curse. The trees are now on our side. They join us in the joyful son—”Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice” (Psalm 96:12).

Kings Must Not Be Lazy

Laziness is the kind of sin that no one really wants to be seen in. There is your sister coming back from the gym, she’s got bread in the oven and morning devotions complete. Across the room, there you are reclined on the couch eating Cheetos, the blue glaze of your phone illuminating your orange-stained lips and fingers as you scroll with the free hand to your fourth cat video. No one wants a snapshot of that scene posted to the internet. 

In the first place, better things are determined concerning you. And everybody said, amen. In the second, you can slip into to the uglier manifestations of laziness by giving into the subtle manifestations of it. So here is some encouragement to pull the weed of laziness when it is small.

Proverbs 12:24 says that the hand of the diligent shall rule. You are a fulfillment of the promise made to our father Abraham that kings would come from him. You are a royal priesthood. You are categorically the diligent rulers. So you must be what God has made you to be. 

Laziness is laced with unbelief. God says that you reap what you sow. The lazy say, “We will find a shortcut.” And when their shortcut doesn’t work they say, “We don’t care about reaping,” which is both a lie and a twisted attempt to take God’s throne and call Deuteronomic blessings worthless. God says that vain pursuits at gaining wealth will fail but he who gathers by hard work will increase (Proverbs 13:11). But the lazy want wealth without the callouses, weightloss without the treadmill, godly children without the catechism, and sanctification without confession, Bible reading, and prayer. 

The lazy say there is a lion in the streets. The royal priesthood says, “That, friend, is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” We have arise from sleep to rule with him. So let us be going.

When God Puts You On The Edge Of Your Seat

Life is not a lazy river. God is the kind of author that keeps the plot moving forward. He appears to like action thrillers. This is a point we should keep in mind so that we are not left thinking the world has gone out of control. Nothing is random. Your intense moments come from the Lord and he is doing something marvelous in them. Just hold on tight and remember that before you enjoy the bacon, it has to sizzle.

We see this very thing in 2 Samuel 17.

The Text – A Summary

Absalom had successfully taken over Jerusalem. His father David fled with many men. But Absalom had to figure out what to do next. Pursue his father to the death right away? Or take time to assemble more of a force against the rightful king of Israel. Ahitophel seemed to speak the very wisdom of God. People would come far and wide to hear his counsel. He had served David, but turned traitor when Absalom stormed Jerusalem. Ahitophel counseled Absalom, saying, “Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night” (v. 1). Ahitophel was no mere counselor. He was ready to do the dirty work of executing King David.

Absalom thought this counsel good enough. But he wanted to double check with Hushai. Husahai was a secret agent who remained faithful to David, but stayed in Jerusalem as Absalom took it over. Husahai counseled Absalom against Ahitophel, saying, “they father and his men . . . they be mighty men . . . they father is a man of war” (v. 8). Absalom took Hushai’s counsel to wait and gather a stronger force against his father. 

Hushai then sent word through a woman to two David-friendly men, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, who lurked just outside of Jerusalem so they could run to inform David of Absalom’s plan. But, a boy spotted them and fled to the city to tell Absalom. Absalom sent men after these spies. Jonathan and Ahimaaz made it to a house in Bahurim. A woman who received them had them shimmy down a well, after which she spread ground corn over the top so Absalom’s men wouldn’t think to look inside. Like faithful Rahab before her, this woman deceived Absalom’s servants, saying that Jonathan and Ahimaaz had passed on.

After Absalom’s men searched and failed, they returned back to Jerusalem, and the two messengers reported the news to David. David and his men then passed over the Jordan. Absalom and his men eventually passed over the Jordan River as well, soon to come into conflict with David and his men. This passage ends with three men bringing beds, vessels, and food to David and his men in the wilderness.

God Doesn’t Write Boring Stories

So we have a rebellious son in pursuit of his father in the wilderness. They are east of Jordan which reminds us that we are east of Eden. Cain went that way back when he murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4:16). And Absalom has David on the run in the same direction. The wise Ahitophel was hanging from a rope by the neck. He killed himself after Absalom went with Hushai’s counsel. That brave woman at Bahurim risked her own neck. And she likely had a sister or a cousin who wouldn’t speak with her since she put the whole family in jeopardy by siding with the fleeing king. The two David-friendly men were sons of priests. And it was priests themselves that Hushai used to smuggle the news out of Jerusalem to David. 

Would you see the kingdom of God flourish on earth? Then find some priests who know how to spread news amid tyranny and find some courageous women confounding Pharaohs with their grains.

All of this is very exciting stuff and a reminder that we need to buckle up. God has not promised us an Amish romance novel where the biggest cliff hanger is, “Will Aaron and Stephen get their buggy out of the ditch by sundown?” God unfolds his plan such that you are always taken up to the brink. You will have to choose when the stakes are high. You will get stabbed in the back by friends. You will have to hide the good guys from the bad ones. You will have to be brave. 

None of your twists and turns are arbitrary. This is all a working out of the great war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The serpent’s seed did not like David sitting on the throne. And that serpent’s seed still does not like the Son of David sitting upon the throne. But sit there he does. And we are a kingdom of priests who by faith rule on this earth calling mankind to be reconciled to God. There is no greater story to be in. So trust God and hold on tight.

Why a Man Should Avoid Jezebels and Sleep With His Wife

Men need to stay away from the seductress for only fools go near her. In the book of Proverbs, the wise father recounts looking out of the window of his house (Proverbs 7:6–9). What has he seen? He has seen the simple young fool. What is the simple young fool doing? He’s passing near the home of the seductress. When is he doing it? At night in the darkness. He’s an ignorant guy doing an ignorant thing in an ignorant way. The father has told his son to avoid this strange woman many times. He has told his son not to go near her house. The fool thinks he can get close to sin. The fool puts himself in situations he should never have been in. 

The father explains that the seductress deserves to be avoided. He describes her ugliness (Proverbs 7:10–13). She is “dressed as a prostitute.” She signals men by the way she dresses. She wants men’s eyes on her. She wants to show them her sexual promiscuity. She is wily of heart. She is crafty or skilled at gaining an advantage. She is loud. She knows nothing of the “gentle and quiet spirit,” which is very precious in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:4). She is wayward. She’s stubborn against God and His commandments. She’s hardened in her crooked ways. Her feet do not stay at home. She is not satisfied with what God has given her. She is out and about always, coveting, looking for more than what is hers. She is covering every corner lying in wait for her prey. She’s not one who hopes in the Lord like the holy women of old (1 Peter 3:5). She’s not waiting on God to satisfy her desire. She seizes the fool, kisses him, and with bold face, speaks. The shock of such an encounter leaves the fool stupefied. 

But it shouldn’t. We call to mind a thousand images of such a woman suddenly kissing a man like this. In our day, such action is passed with a chuckle and a shaking of the head. But it should not be. What wicked sin is on display? Her pride. Her “bold face”—that is, her impudent, shameless, defiant face. She has not done anything attractive. She has done an abomination. She has not done anything cute. She reversed God’s good and right established order. 

The father warns his son to keep away from the seductress for she persuades with seductive speech (Proverbs 7:14–21). She pretends that all is right between her and God. She has, after all, offered her sacrifices. She flatters the fool. She’s come out just for him. She’s sought him out diligently. She’s now found just what she was looking for. She makes false promises of joy and passion and has taken great measures so they can delight themselves with sexual immorality. She overcomes his hesitations with false assurances, and she guarantees there will be no consequences, for her husband is on a long journey. Mark the tactics of the seductress. Note how many ways the truth can be manipulated, and keep away. 

The father warns his son that this woman has taken many an ignorant fool to death (Proverbs 7:22–27). The fool goes like an ox to the slaughter, like a stag pierced in the liver by an arrow, or like a bird in a snare. The fool has been played. He does not know his actions will cost him his life. See the danger. You can honestly think, “I’m good,” and can genuinely believe you have things under control, saying, “These words of warning don’t apply to me.” All your genuine feelings don’t mean a thing. You’re still dead. 

So, what should you do? Embrace your wife.

EMBRACE YOUR WIFE 

If a man would avoid the sexual sin that kills, then he must embrace his wife. He should do so because she is his permanent source of satisfaction. “Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well” (Proverbs 5:15). This well is a picture of a wife. A well supplies a home with satisfying water. Likewise, a wife supplies her husband with satisfying sexual love. It is significant that the picture is one of a well and not merely a vessel or a cup. The wife is not a paper cup to be used and discarded. She is the well-water system. She is the very source of sexual love and satisfaction for her husband. Ask yourself how valuable the water source for your home is. Without it, you die. Then you will know how noble the wife is as the permanent source of satisfaction for her husband. 

Moreover, embrace your wife because spending your sexual love on other women is a defiling waste. “Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?” (Proverbs 5:16). The picture is one of a precious resource ruined. When a spouse goes astray, the intimate passion once enjoyed in the marriage union is spilled out in the filthy streets. One of the most precious gifts God has given has been scattered on polluted street corners. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Let the marriage bed be undefiled.” This is no arbitrary rule. It is the wisdom of God. He wants his children to know the joy of going to an undefiled marriage bed in covenant love. 

In marriage, you are now one with your spouse in an exclusive sexual union. “Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you” (Proverbs 5:17). These waters of intimate love are not for foreigners. These waters are to be enjoyed by husband and wife, best friends in covenant with each other before God. Christ says in Mark 10:7–8, “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.” 

Embracing your wife includes rejoicing in her. You should be happy in your wife. Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the L o r d .” A part of that rejoicing includes being intoxicated always in her love. “A lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love” (Proverbs 5:19). The Bible forbids drunkenness and commands drunkenness. It forbids being drunk with wine and requires that a man be drunk in the love of his wife. He is not only to be intoxicated every now and then but always. 

The son is encouraged to embrace his wife because embracing an adulteress is stupid. “Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?” (Proverbs 5:20). The answer is that there is absolutely no reason why. It is a senseless thing to do. She cannot provide satisfaction but only a bitter death. A God-given remedy to our sexually polluted age then is the regular enjoyment of the undefiled marriage bed. 

This blog is an excerpt from my book Wisdom for Kings and Queens which Canon Press has just published. I wrote this book because, well, let’s be honest—the train has gone off the tracks. We have manifestly entered Crazy Town. And insanity is never a good long-term strategy. What are Christians to do in such foolish and evil days? Get wisdom fast, quick, and in a hurry.

If you’d like to order the book, it is available for purchase right now at CanonPress.com.