Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 66

“Jesus Is Literally All They Have Left”: The Situation in Afghanistan, and Ways to Pray and Help

The following informative Q&A comes from a source inside Afghanistan who cannot be identified for security reasons:

What is the situation of believers in Afghanistan?

Precarious. We know from the media but also from local sources that the Taliban are going door to door to weed out unwanted elements. Who are unwanted? Everybody who collaborated with the West (especially teachers), but also homosexuals and non-Muslims. Christians are in grave danger. Anybody who is exposed will be severely punished.

What would be their fate?

Could be anything. Kidnapping, torture, killing. In 2017, a German woman and an Afghan guard were killed when a guesthouse was attacked. Taliban also killed a South African family in Kabul in 2014. If even foreign aid workers can be killed for their faith, what would happen to indigenous Christians?

How are Christians responding?

Everybody is afraid. Each responds differently. Some try to escape the country; others decide to stay and remain secret believers. Some want to escape but can’t. Some don’t know what to do.

Did Christians experience any freedom in the last twenty years?

Unfortunately not. The government installed by the Americans failed to make provisions for religious freedoms and the protection of (religious) minorities such as Sikhs and Christians. Sikhs, however, are persecuted but still somewhat tolerated. Sikhs are mostly ethnically Indian and are not known for sharing their faith so are less threatening. They have always been allowed to live as Sikhs although with plenty of hostility and constant ‘Da’awa’ which is an invitation to join Islam. This means that at least they can still identify as Sikhs. Christians cannot, because they are apostates. They had to hide their faith. People who were exposed as Christians disappeared. They were probably tortured and killed. There are other religious communities and cults, but there’s little known about them.

Will their situation change now?

Afghanistan has been high in the top 10 of the World Watch List and for the last couple of years, it has been number 2. Only North Korea scored slightly higher. Persecution spiked in the last couple of years. It’s evident that the Taliban take-over means that there’s now another layer of persecution. The risks and threats have increased.

Does that mean that Afghanistan will be number one on the next World Watch List?

That’s too early to tell. As we speak, we’re doing our research diligently in over 70 countries. We’re monitoring Afghanistan closely. The new WWL will be released in January. That’s when we can tell the WWL position of Afghanistan.

How do the believers feel about the Taliban take-over?

They are disappointed and feel abandoned by those who they had hoped would protect them when the going got tough. The foreign troops left, and the government fled. At the same time, they knew this day was going to come someday. In that sense, they were prepared. But it doesn’t make it any less painful.

What can we do to help the believers?

Literally the only thing they currently ask for is prayer. That’s not strange or overtly spiritual. If they had a thin layer of protection and justice, it’s now gone. Jesus is literally all they have left. The Christians are seeking ways to stay safe and to survive. We stand with them in their time of greatest need.

Are they not asking for escape routes, passage to safety, and asylum?

Of course, right now almost all locals are asking about escape routes and possibilities for relocation; that is not something only to do with believers.  However, with a history of persecution since the day the only official church ever built in Afghanistan was destroyed half a century ago, it is correct to understand that their predicament is heightened, and they must surely be looking for ways to safeguard and secure members of their communities and movement, particularly women and children.

Can you expand on their basic needs?

Their needs are the same as for all Afghan people: safety, food, clean water, medical care. There is a lot of violence in the country, supply chains have broken down, and clinics have stopped functioning. Clean water still runs from the taps, but we have to hope that stays that way. If this water supply gets contaminated, this could lead to lots of illnesses and diseases. If large scale fighting breaks out and schools and hospitals are damaged, it will impact the health care needs of millions of people and access to medicine and professionals.

If you struggle with how to pray, I recommend that you focus on the Psalms. Each day I pray through 1 to 3 of the Psalms and apply them to the situation in Afghanistan. You may find that helpful as well.

 5 Ways to Pray for Afghanistan, from Open Doors USA

With the collapse of the government, the declaration of Shariah law, the expansion of extremism, food shortages and the raging pandemic, Afghanistan needs urgent prayer from the global Church right now, more than ever.

Please pray for the small group of believers in the country. They are walking on eggshells and are uncertain who to trust. Pray specifically for those whose faith is known in their communities. Pray that they find strength, wisdom, and supernatural peace in God’s promises.
Pray for the displaced. A new wave of refugees is expected to come from Afghanistan to many parts of the Middle East and the rest of the world. Pray for God’s protection and provision over them in their journeys.
Pray for the women. Many women fear that Taliban rule means they will be stripped of opportunities for education. Women involved in education during the past years could also be at risk—pray for their protection.
Pray for the sick. Though under-reported in international media, COVID-19 cases are spiking in the country and hospitals are limited in what they can offer. There is no certainty as to how the healthcare system will be able to sustain itself with the new Taliban government. Pray that the healthcare system will not collapse.
Pray that the country will not be a haven for extremists. The Taliban government of 20 years ago are known enablers of extremist Islamic organizations. With their newfound control over Afghanistan, the country could be host to a new generation of terror groups.

How to Help through Giving

The US teams of World Relief are all working very quickly to build capacity for the sudden expansions of refugee arrivals.
World Help is providing food for refugees in Afghanistan.
Help the Persecuted has a Field Ministry Team moving quickly to find ways to help Afghans in crisis, particularly Christian converts, and developing plans with local Christians to help with: lightning Funds to evacuate to safe locations, temporary housing and living expenses as many are fleeing, and medical expenses for the injured and those who now have no access to critical medications.
Author Alisa Childers shared about a giving opportunity through Conduit Church to help meet physical needs (select Afghanistan Relief Fund in the drop down menu). 
Global Catalytic Ministries is working in Afghanistan (and all over the Middle East) through disciple making, church planting, and leadership development.

If you would like to give to this cause through EPM, you can donate to our persecuted church special fund. 100% of donations will be given to worthy organizations helping persecuted believers, including those in Afghanistan. 

“…the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:17-18)

An Abortion Doctor’s Journey to Become Pro-Life

Dr. Patti Giebink is a former abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood and the author of Unexpected Choice: An Abortion Doctor’s Journey to Pro-Life. She now spends her time helping people find compassion and sensitivity to those affected by abortion.

Dr. Giebink was recently interviewed on Focus on the Family. This was a really wonderful interview:

As an abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood, Dr. Patti Giebink believed she was helping women. Later, she began reading scripture and God gradually changed her heart on the abortion issue. Patti tells the story of her long journey from abortion doctor to pro-life and encourages listeners to share the message of life with compassion.

Here’s an excerpt, where she shares about her spiritual transformation:

I was kind of going down the New Age path, searching. …[a friend] just kind of off-hand said [this church has] a new pastor. You might like this church. I didn’t know anybody in the church. Very small, but they had a new, young pastor, and I was just captivated. And for the first time in my life, I just felt so drawn to this church and to the Bible. It’s like they talk about in the Bible about the scales falling off your eyes. So I started reading the Bible and started to understand it. For about a year and a half, I just intensively studied the Bible. I didn’t have a real job at the time, and I just intensively was studying the Bible with direction and understanding it. At some point—I don’t exactly know when—it became so clear to me that God is the God of life. That’s His character. That’s His heart. There should be no question.

…in 2004, I started working with a very solid pro-life Catholic doctor in our small town. She was unapologetically pro-life. I wasn’t admitting that I had changed because basically all my friends and most of my family were pro-choice. But just listening to her and her courage…she gave me strength to start thinking more of that. And so by 2006, which was the first Vote Yes for Life campaign, was the first time I really stepped out and said, you know, I’ve changed. So that’s from 2001 to 2006. That’s five years of gradual, painful realization.

What a reminder that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. As we continue to advocate for unborn children, may we also pray for those working in the abortion industry, who desperately need to experience the love, truth, and forgiveness of Jesus.

And let me again encourage you to download for free my book Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims—What Do Facts & Common Sense Tell Us?  It will equip you in your conversations and also is a great book to share with those who are prochoice or are on the fence. Someone could ask a friend or family member, “Would you be willing to read this and let me know what you think?” It would also be great for small groups—a leader could assign one or more chapter per week, and within a few months a group could receive a decent pro-life education.

The print version of the book is available from our ministry for an extremely low cost ($1.00 per single copy; 90 cents per copy on orders of 72 or more; 80 cents per copy on orders of 1,000 or more, plus shipping). A single pro-life donor could purchase enough copies for their entire church at a very low price. Our ministry’s goal is just to get this life-saving message out there to readers!

How to Welcome Criticism and Respond to It with Grace

Note from Randy: When I receive critical comments online or in response to my books, and when someone talks to me personally about their disagreements, I ask God to point out to me any truth they may contain. People are certainly correct that I’m very flawed. No one is more aware of this than I am. (When we dialogue, if I see an indication that critics realize they’re also flawed, it gives them credibility.)

I seek to be open-minded, teachable, and open to correction both in my life and writings. That doesn’t mean I’m never defensive, but it does mean I try to recognize and resist defensiveness. I have agreed with many critics and have made a number of changes in my books and articles (and yes, even my life) as a result.

Nevertheless, in some cases, sadly, I’ve found that attempts to explain or dialogue are fruitless. Some people are habitually certain that they are 100% correct in their criticisms and any opinions to the contrary are unthinkable to them. When I attempt to clarify, especially in a public forum but often even in private email exchanges, it just gives them something else to criticize.

So while I truly listen to and value feedback and criticism, I learned long ago there are many critics you can’t please, and shouldn’t try to. Jesus said, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44).

I figure for every inaccurate accusation made against me there’s another accurate one critics don’t even know about. For every person judging me unfairly, there’s another one giving me credit I don’t deserve. God is the Audience of One. We all stand or fall before Him, not each other.

All that I’ve said explains why I love this advice from Scott Sauls about how to receive criticism and respond with grace. There’s a lot of wisdom here.

How to Receive Criticism with Grace

By Scott Sauls

Because everyone is flawed, everyone can also expect criticism from time to time. But these days, a carefully timed, well placed call-out can have the outsized effect of “canceling” someone socially, culturally, professionally, denominationally, or otherwise.

Even when a person’s history, accomplishments, and character are laudable, a critical word can swiftly reduce the person to a single, defining worst moment. A damning narrative doesn’t even have to be true to ruin a person’s good name. It simply needs to be told by someone with an audience. In a flash, that person’s voice is silenced, influence lost, and reputation destroyed.

In today’s court of public opinion, where it’s expected that people may be canceled for holding a unique view on certain issues, we can no longer assume we’ll be judged innocent until proven guilty. Rather, we expect to be judged guilty until proven innocent—and by then, it may be too late.

People who serve in the ministry can sometimes live in this fear of being slandered or canceled. As one colleague who has pastored for nearly 40 years said, “If I get behind a microphone and say just five poorly stated or misunderstood words, it could potentially ruin my entire ministry.”

Making the Most of Criticism

I am not a fan of cancel culture at all. But I’ve come to appreciate how criticism, even the unfair and ill-intended kind, can contribute to my growth and intimacy with Christ. As Tim Keller once reminded me after someone twisted my words in what appeared to be an attempt to discredit and malign me personally—even wrongful criticism can lead us toward intimacy with Christ. This process isn’t fun, but it can also prove fruitful. Consider Tim’s words:

If the criticism comes from someone who doesn’t know you at all (and often this is the case on the internet) it is possible that the criticism is completely unwarranted and profoundly mistaken. I am often pilloried not only for views I do have, but also even more often for views (and motives) that I do not hold at all. When that happens, it is even easier to fall into a smugness and perhaps be tempted to laugh at how mistaken your critics are. “Pathetic . . .” you may be tempted to say. Don’t do it. Even if there is not the slightest kernel of truth in what the critic says, you should not mock them in your thoughts. First, remind yourself of examples of your own mistakes, foolishness, and cluelessness in the past, times in which you really got something wrong. Second, pray for the critic, that he or she grows in grace.

Wrestling with Pigs

A few years back, a man who visited our church called me out on Twitter, pointing out several things that, in his “humble opinion,” were wrong with my sermon. Feeling defensive and irritated, I foolishly retaliated with a criticism of my own, along with a Bible verse to justify. The man then posted five more messages, piling on criticism, taking my words out of context, putting words in my mouth that I did not say, and ascribing motives to me that I did not have. I responded a second time, again in a way that was not helpful.

At this point my longtime friend, encourager, and “big brother” mentor, pastor Scotty Smith, saw the exchange and swiftly sent me a text message: “Scott, my brother, you forgot that you’re not supposed to wrestle with pigs.”

Scotty’s text was not intended as an insult to the man on Twitter. Rather, “Don’t wrestle with pigs” is another way of saying that when people try to pick a fight or seem bent on antagonizing you, it’s usually best not to engage them. Why? Because when we wrestle with pigs, we risk becoming pigheaded ourselves, and everyone ends up getting mud on their faces. Only the pig enjoys this experience.

Looking to Christ

There is another cost to wrestling with pigs. When we strike back in retaliation instead of defusing a situation with a gentle answer, we risk conditioning ourselves to reject all criticism, even the kind that is in fact fair. When this occurs, we are playing the role of victim-martyr, listening to the twisted voice of self-righteousness instead of resting in and responding to the righteousness that is freely ours in Christ.

Secure in Christ’s righteousness, our aim is not ultimately to please other people, nor is it to gain an upper hand on our critics. Rather, our aim is to please Christ with lives of humility, faithfulness, and love. Our aim is to pursue a kind of character and humility that makes it difficult for others to accuse us, not for our own glory but for the glory of Christ. While there are times it’s important for a leader’s reputation to be defended from false, maligning statements (ideally, such a defense would come from fellow leaders in the church), retaliation by slinging more mud is never a good option.

Our starting point in this endeavor, which is also our ending point, is to remember that Christ himself was “canceled” for our sake. This was voluntary on his part. Dying in our place, he shielded us from the penalty of things that gave him the right to cancel us. How marvelous, and how wonderful, that he does not so much as consider doing that. Thanks be to God for his unfathomable grace.

This article is adapted from the newest book by Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our ‘Secret Weapon’ in an Age of Us-Against-Them (Thomas Nelson, 2020), and is used here by permission.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Do You Live as If the Next World Is Your Home?

You can also listen to an audio version of this blog.

A wealthy plantation owner invited John Wesley to his home. The two rode their horses all day, seeing just a fraction of all the man owned. At the end of the day the plantation owner proudly asked, “Well, Mr. Wesley, what do you think?” After a moment’s silence, Wesley replied, “I think you’re going to have a hard time leaving all this.”

All of us form attachments. All of us have a place we call home. The question is, do we think and live as if this world, or the next world, is our home? Are our minds on Earth or Heaven (which one day will be on the New Earth)? The plantation owner was attached to the world he was in. Wesley was attached to the world he was going to.

Perhaps you’ve heard it said, “He’s so heavenly minded he’s of no earthly good.” Yet Scripture commands us to set our minds on Heaven. It says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2).

When we’re properly heavenly minded, we’ll be of maximum heavenly and earthly good. But when we are too earthly minded, we will ultimately bring no good to Heaven or this present earth.

Excerpted from Randy’s book Money, Possessions, and Eternity . For more on the eternal home that awaits us, browse additional books and resources on Heaven available from EPM.

Photo by Andrew Ly on Unsplash

A First-Hand Account of Persecuted Believers in Nigeria: “Everybody Lives in Fear All the Time, Day or Night”

About forty years ago, my Nigerian friend Samuel Kunhiyop and I were talking in my living room. We discovered we were the same age. After he shared what a privilege it was to be attending seminary in our country, I said, “I love my country, but it really surprises me that you have such a great appreciation for it. So many countries, even those we’ve helped, are anti-American. But a number of Nigerians were bought or stolen and shipped to America and sold as slaves, weren’t they? With all the countries that resent us without good reason, I’d think you of all people would despise us. Can you tell me why you don’t?”

I’ll never forget the chills I felt hearing Samuel’s measured response, spoken slowly with his rich accent: “No matter what else you did, you brought us the gospel…and that is all that matters.” Two generations earlier, a wave of missionaries sent by American churches had gone to Africa and won his village, including his parents, to Christ. As a result, while I was growing up in a non-Christian home in America, my friend Sam was being raised in a Christian home in Nigeria.

Yes, I believe that other things matter besides preaching the gospel—among them character, integrity, and biblical social justice. But Samuel was saying the same thing the apostle Paul said—that the gospel is more important than anything else.

Sadly, today, many of our Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ are being severely persecuted and oppressed. Samuel, a brother I dearly love and trust, recently sent a letter, sharing how he visited two camps for displaced persons in Southern Kaduna in Nigeria, where he was born and raised. He wrote, “What I saw really shocked me beyond what words can describe.”

Southern Kaduna is predominantly Christian, and believers have been persecuted there for years. Samuel explained:

Now that we have a Muslim President, the Muslims, especially the Fulanis who belong to the same ethnic group, use this time that their own man is in office to attack, assault, kidnap, rape women, and destroy property. They are often well armed with sophisticated weapons such as AK47s and pickup trucks. There are similar attacks in other parts of the country.

One of the camps Samuel visited was a children’s primary school in Zonkwa:

I saw women, children, and few men—about 3,000. The reason for the few men is that the men usually go back to take care of their farms during the day as they all come from farming communities. When the attacks started about a month ago, the gunmen in pickups with AK47s usually will arrive the villages between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and shoot and kill at sight. They will also burn and destroy houses and farms. This is the farming season in Northern Nigeria. 

According to the records, five villages were completely destroyed, leaving behind displaced families. In this camp alone, three pregnant women have given birth to their babies and sleep with other family members that are also displaced. They sleep on mattresses on the floor in classrooms. I would say that about 50 adults and children stay and sleep in one classroom. They have one central cooking area in the open and few makeshift places to bath and dress. They often meet in the church to have their worship to the Lord.  

Samuel answered a series of questions:

What is the government doing to prevent these attacks?

Basically, the government is unable to provide security for the citizens not only in Southern Kaduna but all over the country. The few soldiers and police are ill-equipped and simply overwhelmed by the well-armed gun men. There is insecurity everywhere as bandits, kidnappers, armed bandits, militia, Fulani herdsmen, cattle rustlers, etc. are loose and freely ambush, kill, kidnap, and abduct innocent citizens at will. 

Often people are kidnapped in their houses, highways, churches, schools, etc. and taken to a hideout and thousands of dollars as ransom demanded. A few weeks ago a high school owned by the Baptist Church was attacked at 2.00 a.m. and over one hundred students were abducted and ransom is being demanded. As I write this update, a few of them have been freed, a handful escaped, and about 87 are still held captive. Failure to pay often means death to the victims. In some instances, ransom is paid and still the victim is killed.

…Even the few military check points that are posted in some of these areas are not safe.  A man was murdered by these heartless gunmen in the presence of the military post. …The night before I wrote this update, there was an attack on some villages about 15 minutes from my home and yet the security agencies (police and soldiers) could not do anything to prevent. One wonders if the government is not complicit. 

Do we feel safe? 

Not at all.  Everybody lives in fear all the time, day or night, 24/7. 

Is there hope? 

Our only hope is God who is our shield and protector. 

What can the world do? 

In my mind, what is happening in Nigeria needs to be given urgent global attention. It is genocide and if the Nigerian government is not prosecuted, then something very wrong is happening. It is simply unacceptable in a civilized world like ours. The world cannot ignore or suspend immediate action on atrocities happening in the Nigeria. It is now or never.

What about the church worldwide? 

Pray, pray, and act as God will lead.

Samuel described the need for foodstuff, mattresses/blankets, medicine, and roofing sheets for those that lost their houses.

If you would like to give to this cause you can  donate to EPM’s persecuted church special fund. 100% of donations will be given to worthy organizations helping persecuted believers, including those in Nigeria. You can also give directly to a ministry our brother Samuel recommends, helping believers in Southern Kaduna, by mailing a check to BILD International, 2400 Oakwood Road Ames, IA 50014-8417. Please indicate that the money is meant for Southern Kaduna Support c/o of Dr. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ” ( Matthew 5:10-12, ESV)

Here's some ways to also be praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. Pray too for the people of Haiti, suffering after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake. 

Photo by Tope A. Asokere from Pexels

We Don’t Define What Love Is in Scripture—God Does

If we asked people to vote on a divine character quality they most appreciate, God’s love would surely receive far more votes than His holiness. Christians tend to reflect our culture, and because our culture values love and devalues holiness, we do the same. We have taken one precious divine attribute, love, defined it as we please, then used our redefinition to neutralize other attributes of God’s that don’t appeal to us.

Consider, for example, this comic:

The artist explains,

Jesus says to a group of people holding their bibles, “The difference between me and you is you use scripture to determine what loves means and I use love to determine what scripture means.” This upsets some because to them Jesus IS the Bible, conflated and equated. And the Bible is love, conflated and equated. They commit the unavoidable hermeneutical method of reading into the text their understanding of what it means. We all do it. In fact, it can’t be helped! They may presume they’re doing letting the Bible speak for itself, but that’s impossible. We all have our own hermeneutic.

…We all bring to the text our own minds (open or closed) and our own hearts (hard or soft) and will read into the text our own predispositions. This is why we see the perplexing reality of terrorists and peace-activists inspired by the same Bible. So, it comes down to the personal internal work of self-awareness, humility, and a willingness to learn and grow. This almost always happens during deconstruction.

I agree that everyone brings assumptions and an interpretive grid to the text of Scripture. We all have a systematic theology—it’s just that often it’s full of holes and not biblically based. That’s why we must engage in smart study of God’s Word, seeking to understand what He is communicating throughout the entirety of the Bible rather than trusting our own “personal internal work.” (This artist mentioned deconstruction. For an excellent treatment of progressive Christianity, see Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers.)

It concerns me when those who profess to be Christians simply redefine what Scripture says in order to accommodate whatever the culture currently believes, supposing they are more loving, kind, and relevant Christians. Once we deny parts of God’s truth, we’re no longer under the authority of Scripture. We become our own authority. The Jesus we speak of will not be the Scripture-believing Jesus of the Bible who was full of both grace and truth. He will just be the “loving Jesus” remade in our culture’s image—and in our image—in which we redefine love as absolute tolerance and moral indifference.  

Is it possible for Christians to act in harsh ways that are profoundly unloving, and to use Scripture in ways that dishonor Christ? Yes, sadly, it is. Let’s not forget that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders because they imagined they could love God without loving people (Luke 10:25-37). If we don’t genuinely love people, who are created in God’s image, we can’t love God (1 John 4:8).

There are two temptations when it comes to love: to imagine we are speaking the truth, but neglect to show grace; and to err on the side of grace, and never speak the truth. When we do the later, we might think, “Love means that you approve of people, and you never say or do anything to make them uncomfortable.”

God’s Word shows us that if you truly love someone, you’re looking out for their best interests. Scripture says we are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Love is not always comfortable. Jesus is our ultimate example of this authentic love—a love that acted, intervened, and was willing to take the greatest risks and most severe consequences to rescue mankind from destruction and to satisfy the demands of His holiness.

Jesus shows us exactly what God looks like. Problems arise when we trust our own subjective picture of Jesus over what the Bible says and shows. The same Jesus who spoke words of tender love and forgiveness also spoke some of the harshest words of condemnation in Scripture.

God did not cease to be uncompromisingly holy when Jesus came into the world. God’s eternal character does not change (see Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). That means the following Old Testament declarations remain just as true now as when they first appeared in Scripture:

Who is like you—

majestic in holiness,

awesome in glory,

working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? (1 Samuel 6:20)

Your ways, O God, are holy. (Psalm 77:13)

Exalt the LORD our God

and worship at his footstool;

he is holy....

You were to Israel a forgiving God,

though you punished their misdeeds.

Exalt the LORD our God

and worship at his holy mountain,

for the LORD our God is holy. (Psalm 99:5, 8–9)

God’s attributes of holiness, purity, and righteousness prompt Him to hate evil, including some human attitudes and actions; and yes, even some people (see Deuteronomy 12:31; Proverbs 6:16–19; Jeremiah 44:4; Malachi 1:2–3). David writes, “He [God] is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11, NLT). David also says, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors” (Psalm 5:4–6).

These statements make clear that our loving God won’t allow the wicked to dwell in His presence. Certainly, He hates sin; but passages such as this go further by saying, “You hate all who do wrong.” If we place God’s love above His holiness, such statements will seem appalling. And they will seem especially jarring when we hear John, the “apostle of love,” say something like, “Whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains [present tense] on him” (John 3:36).

The God of love is also a God of wrath (see Romans 1:18). Evil angers God. He hates evil, despises it, and will punish it. Yet the God who punishes is the same loving God who chose to bear our punishment in Christ and offer us pardon. If we don’t accept His atoning work, however, we remain subject to eternal punishment. Any affirmation of God’s love that fails to acknowledge the demands of His holiness distorts God’s character and truth, and undermines the gospel.

For more on God’s holiness and love, see Randy’s book If God Is Good . For more on knowing the Jesus revealed in Scripture, see his books Face to Face with Jesus and It’s All About Jesus.

Photo by Alexandra Fuller on Unsplash

Compassion’s Fill the Stadium Campaign, and Your Opportunity to Help Needy Children Around the World

Over the last year through their Fill the Stadium campaign, Compassion International has been working to provide urgent support for children in crisis around the world. They say, “COVID-19 has left nearly 70,000 children without a sponsor. That’s the capacity of the average NFL stadium! As the world is in the grips of COVID-19, it has led to more than sickness. Parents can’t work. Food is scarce. Our frontline church partners around the world are courageously delivering essential items to desperate children and families—often door to door.”

Compassion recently shared this great update about their work in Indonesia. Seeing these children they’ve helped was my highlight:

And in this video, Compassion CEO and Former Olympian Santiago Mellado gives an update on the effort to raise $35 million for children during COVID-19:

The needs around the world are great. Independent reports:

Global hunger shot up by an estimated 118 million people worldwide in 2020, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, jumping to 768 million people – the highest figure going at least as far back as 2006. The number of people living with food insecurity – those forced to compromise on food quantity or quality – surged by 318 million, to 2.38 billion.

I encourage you to consider giving generously to Fill the Stadium. You can also give to EPM’s relief and develop fund, 100% of which we send to ministries that include Compassion.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’” (Matthew 25:34-36)

Videos copyright © 2021 by Compassion International, Inc. All rights reserved. Photo by Yannis H on Unsplash.

Christ’s Resurrected Life Is the Model for Ours

Strangely, though Jesus in His resurrected body proclaimed, “I am not a ghost” (Luke 24:39, NLT), countless Christians think they will be ghosts in the eternal Heaven. I know this because I’ve talked with many of them. They think they’ll be disembodied spirits, or wraiths. The magnificent, cosmos-shaking victory of Christ’s resurrection—by definition a physical triumph over physical death in a physical world—escapes them. If Jesus had been a ghost, if we would be ghosts, then redemption wouldn’t have been accomplished. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2, REV).

Jesus walked the earth in His resurrection body for forty days, showing us how we would live as resurrected human beings. In effect, He also demonstrated where we would live as resurrected human beings—on Earth. Christ’s resurrection body was suited for life on Earth, not primarily life in the present Heaven. As Jesus was raised to come back to live on Earth, so we will be raised to come back to live on Earth (1 Thessalonians 4:14; Revelation 21:1-3).

The risen Jesus walked and talked with two disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:13-35). They asked Him questions; He taught them and guided them in their understanding of Scripture. They saw nothing different enough about Him to tip them off to His identity until “their eyes were opened” (v. 31). This suggests that God had prevented them from recognizing Jesus earlier, which they otherwise would have. The point is that they didn’t see anything amiss. They saw the resurrected Jesus as a normal, everyday human being. The soles of His feet didn’t hover above the road—they walked on it. No one saw bread going down a transparent esophagus when He swallowed.

We know the resurrected Christ looked like a man because Mary called Him “sir” when she assumed He was the gardener (John 20:15). Though at first she didn’t recognize His voice, when He called her by name, she recognized Him (v. 16). It was then that she “turned toward Him.” Because modest women didn’t look male strangers in the eye, this phrase suggests that she hadn’t gotten a good look at Him before.

The times Jesus spent with His disciples after His resurrection were remarkably normal. Early one morning, He “stood on the shore” at a distance (John 21:4). He didn’t hover or float—or even walk on water, though He could have. He stood, then called to the disciples (v. 5). Obviously His voice sounded human, because it traveled across the water and the disciples didn’t suspect it was anyone but a human. It apparently didn’t sound like the deep, otherworldly voices that movies assign to God or angels.

Jesus had started a fire, and He was already cooking fish that He’d presumably caught Himself. He cooked them, which means He didn’t just snap his fingers and materialize a finished meal. He invited them to add their fish to his and said, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:12).

In another appearance to the disciples, Christ’s resurrection body seamlessly interacted with the disciples’ mortal bodies (John 20:19-23). Nothing indicates that His clothes were strange or that there was a halo over His head. He drew close enough to breathe on them (v. 22).

On the other hand, though the doors were locked, Christ suddenly appeared in the room where the disciples were gathered (v. 19). Christ’s body could be touched and clung to and could consume food, yet it could apparently “materialize” as well. How is this possible? Could it be that a resurrection body is structured in such a way as to allow its molecules to pass through solid materials or to suddenly become visible or invisible? Though we know that Christ could do these things, we’re not explicitly told we’ll be able to. It may be that some aspects of His resurrection body are unique because of his divine nature. (Even if Christ’s resurrection body has capabilities that ours won’t, we know we’ll still be able to stretch the capacities of our perfected human bodies to their fullest, which will probably seem supernatural to us compared to what we’ve known.)

By observing the resurrected Christ, we learn not only about resurrected bodies but also about resurrected relationships. Christ communicates with His disciples and shows His love to them as a group and as individuals. He instructs them and entrusts a task to them (Acts 1:4-8). If you study his interactions with Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18), Thomas (20:24-29), and Peter (21:15-22), you will see how similar they are to his interactions with these same people before He died. The fact that Jesus picked up His relationships where they’d left off is a foretaste of our own lives after we are resurrected. We will experience continuity between our current lives and our resurrected lives, with the same memories and relational histories.

Once we understand that Christ’s resurrection is the prototype for the resurrection of mankind and the earth, we realize that Scripture has given us an interpretive precedent for approaching passages concerning human resurrection and life on the New Earth. Shouldn’t we interpret passages alluding to resurrected people living on the New Earth as literally as those concerning Christ’s resurrected life during the forty days He walked on the old Earth?

For more on the eternal Heaven, the New Earth, see Randy’s book  Heaven . You can also browse our additional resources on Heaven.

Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash

5 Apologetics Questions Every Christian Should Learn How to Answer

Alisa Childers is the author of Another Gospel: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity. Deconstructed faith stories are the new normal. We all know people who once seemed to be solid Christians but have walked away. Alisa’s story of her own reconstructed faith is a breath of fresh air. She shares her doubts and struggles and the journey God led her on to rediscover the solid Rock on which she stands. This excellent book is full of hope and sound reasons for faith in Jesus and God’s Word.

In this great video, Alisa gives a brief overview of five apologetics questions every believer should learn how to answer:

Here are the resources she mentions in the video:

Dr. Daniel Wallace Textual Criticism Class

Dr. Gary Habermas and the Evidence for the Resurrection

Dr. Peter Williams on Slavery in the Bible

Real Historian Responds to "Jesus Was a Myth" Claims

Undeniable Historical Evidence for the Existence of Jesus

Books mentioned:

Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

The Resurrection of the Son of God

God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?

Is God a Moral Monster?

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Can Rich People Go to Heaven?

In the story of the rich young man, we’re told that he “ran up to [Jesus] and fell on his knees before him” (Mark 10:17, NIV). The man’s eagerness and sincerity are evident.

“Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” So far, so good. This man wants to live with God in Heaven forever.

After the rich young man spoke to Jesus, we read something remarkable that’s often overlooked: “Jesus looked at him and loved him” (Mark 10:21, NIV).

When you love people, you act in their best interests. What Jesus said next should be seen in light of the immediately preceding statement that Jesus loved him: “One thing you lack. . . . Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mark 10:21, NIV).

Unlike many of us, Jesus clearly grasps eternal realities, and that knowledge informs His love for rich people. He knew what stood between this young man and the good life God offers: his wealth. He wouldn’t have been seeking something more from Jesus if he already had the abundant life. His question suggests unease, dissatisfaction, and discontentment with the life he’d been living.

Because of His loving grace, God desires to remove any obstacle between us and eternal, abundant life. Sure, Jesus showed love for the poor by commanding the rich man to donate his wealth to them. But He simultaneously showed love for the man by offering him liberation from the false god of wealth.

Tragically, we’re told, “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Mark 10:22, NIV). What the rich man thought he owned actually owned him. Money was his god. “No one can serve two masters. . . . You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24, NIV).

The man thought he was acting in his own best interests by clinging to his wealth. He couldn’t have been more wrong. He didn’t understand that Jesus, by telling him to give it away, was actually offering him freedom, joy, and the life that’s truly life.

Seeing the rich man’s unwillingness to be freed from the bondage of wealth, Jesus turned to His disciples and said with sadness, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! . . . It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23, 25, NIV).

Many books and sermons, and even some commentaries, claim that there was a narrow passage or gate in Jerusalem called “the eye of a needle.” Supposedly camels had to be unloaded of everything they were carrying before they could fit through it. Some say the camels could enter on their knees. Therefore, rich people can enter God’s Kingdom, but only if they dump all their baggage and enter Heaven in humility.

This all sounds very spiritual, and indeed endless articles online suggest that such a gate existed. Commentator William Barclay is sometimes cited as a source for this idea, but Barclay doesn’t document this claim; he simply indicates, “It is said that . . .” which of course is no help. In fact, despite my extensive search for a credible historical reference to back this up, I have never seen any evidence there was actually a gate called by ancients the “eye of the needle.”

Jesus used the normal word for a sewing needle, and what’s translated “eye” means “hole.” We don’t have to come up with a creative way to negate the possibility of a camel going through a needle’s eye. Obviously a camel can’t go through a needle’s eye—and that’s the whole point, humorously pictured by Jesus. Apart from a miracle, rich people can’t stop trusting in their riches and instead turn to Christ. That’s what the disciples understood Jesus to be saying, which explains their shocked response: “They who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’” (Luke 18:26, NASB).

Why their astonishment? Because in Jesus’ day, wealth was seen as a sign of God’s approval. The logic went like this: if the wealthy, whom God obviously approves of, have a hard time going to Heaven, how could the poor, whom God apparently disdains, ever make it?

But Jesus qualified His shocking statement by saying, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God” (Luke 18:27, amp). Just as it’s impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, it’s impossible with people—but not with God—for a rich man to enter Heaven. Jesus can and ultimately did provide a way for rich people—and all who believe in Him—to enter God’s Kingdom.

Peter seemed stunned by Jesus’ statement that it’s humanly impossible for the rich to inherit God’s Kingdom. He said, “We have left everything to follow you!” (Mark 10:28, NIV).

Instead of rebuking him, Jesus said to Peter, “Truly I tell you, . . . no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30, NIV).

Jesus indicated here that not just some but all of His followers must turn away from various forms of wealth that get in the way of following Him, whether that wealth comes in the form of money, property, security, family, prestige, or popularity. Short-term rewards and eternal ones await anyone who follows Christ. The life we obtain far surpasses anything we leave behind.

After saying we should take up our crosses to follow Him, Jesus taught, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matthew 16:25, NLT).

At first glance, we might imagine Jesus calls us to utter disregard for our self-interests. In fact, His call is the opposite. Jesus supplies the reason we should give up our lives: to save them. We give up empty lives and grab hold of the good life. We give up an impoverished spiritual life to enjoy the abundant life in Christ. This is like being offered ownership of Coca-Cola in exchange for a sack of pop bottles. Only a fool would pass up the offer.

See more resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books, including Giving Is the Good Life .

Photo by Gleb Makarov on Unsplash