-----------------
Rev. Wade's premise is in his title. But Dr. Brown never blames the lost, nor does he describe any sort of desire to war against them. These two accusations are the result of Rev. Wade insisting on his own definition of words. Dr. Brown employs the phrase "culture war" to describe the conflict between good and evil in society, which is a very common descriptor for the state of our country. Rev. Wade badly wants this phrase to mean that the other side of the "culture war" must be an enemy. Thus Dr. Brown is blaming sinners as being the enemy.
Rev. Wade's premise is in his title. But Dr. Brown never blames the lost, nor does he describe any sort of desire to war against them. These two accusations are the result of Rev. Wade insisting on his own definition of words. Dr. Brown employs the phrase "culture war" to describe the conflict between good and evil in society, which is a very common descriptor for the state of our country. Rev. Wade badly wants this phrase to mean that the other side of the "culture war" must be an enemy. Thus Dr. Brown is blaming sinners as being the enemy.
But no one uses the phrase in this way. In fact, it is a rather mild hyperbole used to describe the struggle between two world views.
Rev. Wade uses more than 2700 words (excluding quoted material). Notice that we summarized Rev. Wade's position in a couple of sentences. Because Rev. Wade is given to long tangents and stream-of-consciousness presentations, he is largely unable to express cogent thoughts.
In addition, Rev. Wade neither quotes nor references any Bible verse (except for the opening Scripture). Not a syllable of the Bible anywhere in this "devotion." No doctrine explained. No exegesis. No precept we might be able to use to enhance our walk of faith. No biblical principle clarified. Nothing of eternal importance.
Nothing.
We should say, we are not here to defend Dr. Brown. Our intent is to examine Rev. Wade's presentation.
"I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. - Isaiah 42:6-8 (ESV)
Click Here
(...) (Deleted long, irrelevant introduction.)
"Have you ever wondered if the church should continue to engage in the culture wars? After all, we will never eradicate evil from the world, and sometimes it feels like the water is pouring into our boats faster than we can bail it out. Plus, every time we gain ground on one front, we seem to lose ground on another. Why bother fighting these time-consuming, emotionally draining, financially costly battles? Wouldn't it be better if we put all our efforts into winning the lost, thereby making an eternal, irreversible impact?" - Dr. Michael Brown
Yes! Brown opens up showing he clearly understands that not only is his approach wrong (He understands he is wrong? What?)
and unbiblical but that he knows the right answer! First of all, let's start with the obvious. (There will be no "second of all.")
If you are engaged in what you describe as a "war" then you must realize the confrontational aspect of what you are engaged in. Wars have enemies that must be defeated. Violence to accomplish goals in war is largely justified and acceptable to men.
So, I would ask Brown honestly, who he thinks is the enemy of the culture wars? He might try and get cute (Why is this cute? Rev. Wade just dismisses this without reason.)
and claim sin or Satan but the correct answer is the unsaved. (Rev. Wade substitutes his own definitions and will proceed to excoriate Dr. Brown, not for his own words, but rather for the meaning Rev. Wade assigned to his words.)
The correct answer for who is the enemy of the pro-life movement would be people on the pro-choice side. They have goals that are opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. (So when Paul wrote to Timothy,
{1:18} This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare...
did he violate Rev. Wade's sensibilities? The word "war" is an analogy, which Jesus used [Lk. 14:31], Paul used [Ro. 7:23, 2Co. 6:7, 2Co. 10:3, Ep. 6:12], and Peter used [1Pe. 2:11].
Rev. Wade has an agenda. And that agenda is not devoted to the truth.)
The same would go for any other issue. The term culture war infers a difference of opinion as to how culture should be and thus a "war" over it. Except the lost are not supposed to be our enemies beloved. (Rev. Wade makes another claim about the Bible as if its truth is self-evident.
Now that he has redefined Dr. Brown's words, he doubles down.)
Only Satan could design such an insidious plan. (Sigh. Now the words Rev Wade redefined makes Dr. Brown satanic.)
To make Christians, who hold the keys to heaven in the gospel, (They do? Perhaps so, but where does the Bible say this? Rev. Wade continually and repeatedly makes claims about the Bible but never cracks it open.)
loathe the very people that need the gospel the most. (Rev. Wade triples down with his false characterization of Dr. Brown's words...)
To go to war against the people the bible says are walking darkness and think the things of God are foolishness to them. (...leading to ridiculous conclusions, based on things Dr. Brown never wrote. Rev. Wade inserts his own meaning into Dr. Brown's words, then impugns him for things he did not write.)
What are we supposed to be doing with them? Brown answers that here. The lost are to be "won" for Christ through the preaching of the gospel, thereby making an eternal, irreversible impact. Again, yes!
"Some would also argue that things will only get worse before Jesus returns, and since we know He's coming very soon, there's no use trying to slow down, let alone stop, the onslaught of evil. We're just trying to forestall the inevitable. How should we respond to these objections and concerns? When it comes to the theological objection, namely, that things will only get worse before Jesus returns, I have two responses. First, although there are verses that speak of darkness and apostasy before the Lord returns, there are also verses that speak of a glorious harvest of souls coming into the kingdom at the end of the age. Some passages even speak of light shining brightly in the midst of gross darkness. In short, as I understand the relevant portions of Scripture, the end of the age will be characterized by parallel extremes of good and evil, of divine activity and satanic activity. I hardly see a picture of only gloom and doom." - Dr. Michael Brown
This is a typical Brown tactic. He designs a strawman argument that he fully prepared to knock down. (Rev. Wade does not identify the strawman.)
"Some would also argue that things will only get worse before Jesus returns, and since we know He's coming very soon, there's no use trying to slow down, let alone stop, the onslaught of evil. We're just trying to forestall the inevitable. How should we respond to these objections and concerns? When it comes to the theological objection, namely, that things will only get worse before Jesus returns, I have two responses. First, although there are verses that speak of darkness and apostasy before the Lord returns, there are also verses that speak of a glorious harvest of souls coming into the kingdom at the end of the age. Some passages even speak of light shining brightly in the midst of gross darkness. In short, as I understand the relevant portions of Scripture, the end of the age will be characterized by parallel extremes of good and evil, of divine activity and satanic activity. I hardly see a picture of only gloom and doom." - Dr. Michael Brown
This is a typical Brown tactic. He designs a strawman argument that he fully prepared to knock down. (Rev. Wade does not identify the strawman.)
The theological argument is not merely that time is running out, which it is, but that the overall canon of scripture does not call for our involvement in the politics of man. (Rev. Wade makes another claim about the Bible but does not quote it.)
Jesus' entire ministry saw Him ignoring the politics of His day and His people were being greatly oppressed! (Rev. Wade makes a claim about Jesus but does not document it with the Bible. And it's an obviously false one.
Jesus spent a good amount of time criticizing the authorities of the day. Most of Matthew 23 is about this, including
Mt. 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Jesus told us about His view on taxation [Mt. 17:25, Mt. 22:17], how governments work [Mt. 12:25], going to prison [Mt. 5:25, Mt. 25:36], government authority [Mt. 20:25], testifying before a court [Lk. 12:11], and how marriage law works [Mt. 5:31].
Rev. Wade is a liar.)
His disciples all wanted Him to deliver them from Rome but His ministry is about so much more. His gospel is so much more. Dr. Brown knows this. (What evidence does Rev. Wade have that Dr. Brown is deceitfully holding back what he knows?)
As for the strawman, I also disagree with the interpretation Brown provides. The glorious harvest of souls has absolutely NOTHING to do with the cultural issues of this world. (THIS is the strawman? Rev. Wade doesn't appear to know what a strawman is.
And once again, he makes a declarative statement without documenting it.)
It has to do with again, winning souls to Christ through the preaching of the gospel! (Where does Dr. Brown contest this idea?)
The light shining brightly is supposed to be the church preaching the gospel! (Sigh. Where in the Bible does it say this? Maybe it does, but Rev. Wade is supposed to be teaching a devotional. That would seem to us to involve the Bible.)
That is the only thing that penetrates the darkness! Does Brown honestly think that forcing poor women to travel to another state for their abortion is how we pierce this present darkness? (Rev. Wade's leftist bonafides are showing. Apparently murdering babies should not be made difficult.)
Satan must be laughing at someone so biblically learned avoiding the clear instruction of scripture. There is nothing divine about passing legislation that has no eternal consequence. (This is Rev. Wade's first of several mentions of legislation and the law. But nothing in Dr. Brown's article mentions legislation. Dr. Brown is supposedly a dominionist who wants to take over government, but never talks about passing laws. Hmmm.)
"Second, none of us know how soon the Lord will return, which means that we can't say, "We know this is the final generation, so why bother to impact the culture?" I came to faith 51 years ago, and we were told Jesus was coming any minute back then. The prophecies were all lining up and the bestselling Christian book of the day made it clear that we were in the tail end of the last days. That was more than one-half century ago! Just think of how completely paralyzed the church would be if every generation had this same mentality. "Why bother taking a stand? We're out of here any minute now!" That cannot possibly be a biblical way to think." - Dr. Michael Brown
Actually, it is not a biblical way of thinking at all (So Rev. Wade agrees with Dr. Brown.)
"Second, none of us know how soon the Lord will return, which means that we can't say, "We know this is the final generation, so why bother to impact the culture?" I came to faith 51 years ago, and we were told Jesus was coming any minute back then. The prophecies were all lining up and the bestselling Christian book of the day made it clear that we were in the tail end of the last days. That was more than one-half century ago! Just think of how completely paralyzed the church would be if every generation had this same mentality. "Why bother taking a stand? We're out of here any minute now!" That cannot possibly be a biblical way to think." - Dr. Michael Brown
Actually, it is not a biblical way of thinking at all (So Rev. Wade agrees with Dr. Brown.)
but since Brown only offered it as a strawman argument it is also irrelevant. (Now we're certain Rev. Wade doesn't understand what a strawman is.)
To be clear, the bible writers say the time is short and that was written thousands of years ago! (Where in the Bible? PLEASE, tell us!)
Why such a discrepancy? Because divine inspiration means we believe God wrote the bible and a day to Him is like a thousand years to us! The POINT however is not about how we think or what we feel but what God said! (A nonsense statement. God said something, and by necessity we think and feel about it order to process it. We have to think about them. So the things God has said are only meaningful to us if we process them.)
He said the time is short! He said we need to redeem the time! (Where???? Where does God say this? Rev. Wade, can you please tell us something, anything, about where things are found in the Bible? Please?)
Brown's characterization of a Christian feeling that hey we are outta here soon is unseemly and inaccurate. (Which again means Rev. Wade agrees with Dr. Brown.)
I have a never met a Christian who ever espoused such. (Rev. Wade's experience is anecdotal, and a subset of everything everyone has said about the end times. Thus it is meaningless that Rev. Wade has never met a Christian who ever espoused such.)
The issue is God wants us to always operate as if the time is short because to Him it is! (Now Rev. Wade tells us what God wants and why. Where in the Bible do we find this information?)
Tomorrow is promised to no one. Engaging in cultural wars is like fighting over the deck chairs on the Titanic when you ought to be directing people to the lifeboat. By the way, preaching the gospel is taking a stand and if the church "only" engages in the gospel, they are not to be considered "paralyzed." (Sigh. Dr. Brown made no such statement. He was not discussing presenting the Gospel, he was talking about people being paralyzed because of their end times expectation.
This is how Rev. Wade operates. He so badly wants Dr. Brown to be a dominionist or NAR or whatever, that he must redefine what Dr. Brown wrote, disparage him for things Dr. Brown never mentioned, and simply make things up so that he can come away feeling superior.)
"Having addressed this theological objection, let me respond to the larger question of why we as followers of Jesus should engage in the culture wars at all. Why should we fight against abortion? Why should we oppose racism? Why should we stand up to injustice? Why should we push back against LGBTQ activism? First, if we don't engage the culture, the society will collapse. After all, if we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16), without us, the saltiness will be gone and the light will not shine. And with the culture in freefall, it won't be long before anarchy reigns, before our liberties will be taken away "perhaps even our children taken away." - Dr. Michael Brown
So, you think establishing a theocracy in America will prevent societal collapse? (Whoa. Theocracy? Where did that come from? This is the first time Rev. Wade has mentioned the word.)
"Having addressed this theological objection, let me respond to the larger question of why we as followers of Jesus should engage in the culture wars at all. Why should we fight against abortion? Why should we oppose racism? Why should we stand up to injustice? Why should we push back against LGBTQ activism? First, if we don't engage the culture, the society will collapse. After all, if we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16), without us, the saltiness will be gone and the light will not shine. And with the culture in freefall, it won't be long before anarchy reigns, before our liberties will be taken away "perhaps even our children taken away." - Dr. Michael Brown
So, you think establishing a theocracy in America will prevent societal collapse? (Whoa. Theocracy? Where did that come from? This is the first time Rev. Wade has mentioned the word.)
What part of walking in darkness do you not get? (Why does Rev. Wade think Dr. Brown doesn't "get" walking in darkness? It hasn't been under discussion.)
And do not dare to parse this out. What Dr. Brown and dominionists are arguing for is a theocracy. (Well, only Rev. Wade has even mentioned it... Dr. Brown must be using secret code words known only to Rev. Wade.)
Having the government enforce laws based solely upon our faith. (We will simply use Rev. Wade's technique in response: I have a never met a Christian who ever espoused such.)
The opposite of our faith by the way is not anarchy. (Sigh. We can read Dr. Brown's remarks for ourselves. And with the culture in freefall, it won't be long before anarchy reigns... The fall of culture will bring anarchy. Nothing mentioned about faith vs. anarchy, so Rev. Wade is once again inserting his own meaning into Dr. Brown's words.
Dr. Brown's statement is simple and hardly disputable, unless you're Rev. Wade and have an ax to grind to the extent that the meaning of Dr. Brown's writing needs to be changed in order to conform to Rev. Wade's narrative.)
That is insanely stupid. Let's try to break this down simply. (At this point we doubt that Rev. Wade will be able to break it down at all, let alone simply.)
The issue is not that we do not have laws codifying against sin. (No one has used the word sin up to this point, except one time when Rev. Wade told us that Dr. Brown would be getting cute if he used the word. But now, Rev. Wade is going to lecture us about sin vs. the law.
At this point we are approaching our limit of patience for Rev. Wade.)
The issue is sin, period. Your laws, edicts and judicial appointments are not going to stop sin. Let me give you a for instance. If we believe that abortion is the sin of murder, and we force a woman living in Texas to go to California to have that abortion, we have accomplished nothing. (Again, no one has been discussing sin.
Rev. Wade articulates a standard leftist argument. This is why we call him a leftist. He never criticizes anyone but Republicans and supposed Dominionists.
The stupidity of his argument ought to be obvious: If laws don't stop sin, we must conclude all laws are useless and ought to be repealed. This is the inevitable conclusion.
And by the way, laws are not designed to stop sin, they are designed to punish lawlessness.)
Wrapping your Jesus up in barbed wire will only end up with bleeding people. (Hmmm. Trying to save babies from being murdered is wrapping up Jesus in barbed wire...)
There is only one thing that has the power of salvation and conquers sin and that is the gospel! (Did Dr. Brown contradict this somewhere?)
Are you sensing a theme yet? The saltiness has gone and the light has dimmed because the church is engaged in cultural wars instead of preaching the gospel to the lost. (False choice.)
Let the lost get saved and then they will decide to not get an abortion, hopefully. What Dr. Brown and dominionists never see is that the church is the reason why the society is in a free fall. Sure, there are cultural reasons as well but the church has long since abdicated its ordained role of presenting the uncompromised gospel of Jesus Christ to this dying world. Instead of correcting our ways, we judge the world, which is not our role. We convict the world of its sin, which is also not our role. We then try to force them to modify their behavior through our self-designed culture wars, you guessed it - not our role. Meanwhile, the only thing that is our role, the gospel, we withhold from them. Then we blame them for an impending societal collapse. What sheer arrogance. (None of the previous paragraph comes to bear on Dr. Brown's article.)
"Second, if we don't push back against a sinful society, we will lose our conscience and our souls. How can we see evil on full display in front of our eyes and do nothing? To do nothing is to desensitize and dehumanize ourselves. Third, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:8-9, "at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)." It is in our spiritual DNA to do what is right and good because, by our very born again-nature, we are light. This is the opposite of the fable of the scorpion and the frog, in which the scorpion stings the frog as it sits on the frog's back while the frog swims across the river, as a result of which they both die. When the frog asked why he did it, the scorpion explained that he couldn't resist the urge, since this was his nature. In the same (but totally opposite) way, standing up for justice and contending for mercy is what we do as light. It's our nature." - Dr. Michael Brown
No one is suggesting that we do nothing when faced with sin. (Finally Dr. Brown brings up sin, and Rev. Wade pushes back. He thinks we should indeed do something about sin, but he doesn't like Dr. Brown's opinion. But Rev. Wade is unable to articulate a coherent argument against Dr. Brown.)
"Second, if we don't push back against a sinful society, we will lose our conscience and our souls. How can we see evil on full display in front of our eyes and do nothing? To do nothing is to desensitize and dehumanize ourselves. Third, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:8-9, "at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)." It is in our spiritual DNA to do what is right and good because, by our very born again-nature, we are light. This is the opposite of the fable of the scorpion and the frog, in which the scorpion stings the frog as it sits on the frog's back while the frog swims across the river, as a result of which they both die. When the frog asked why he did it, the scorpion explained that he couldn't resist the urge, since this was his nature. In the same (but totally opposite) way, standing up for justice and contending for mercy is what we do as light. It's our nature." - Dr. Michael Brown
No one is suggesting that we do nothing when faced with sin. (Finally Dr. Brown brings up sin, and Rev. Wade pushes back. He thinks we should indeed do something about sin, but he doesn't like Dr. Brown's opinion. But Rev. Wade is unable to articulate a coherent argument against Dr. Brown.)
The people God brings into our sphere can benefit from our friendship, wisdom, and truly being salt and light. I tell the story often of the two case managers who once worked under me. One a Jesus loving child of God and the other, well, not. The unsaved person was constantly trying to get the Christian in trouble or even fired for her expressions of faith to which she only responded with kindness. This went on for two years. Then the life of the unsaved women fell apart and the first person she turned to was her Jesus loving peer because she had something that was needed - peace. The unsaved woman then came to Christ and His glorious salvation. That is being salt and light - not "pushing back." Unfortunately, the unsaved view Christians as those people trying to force their beliefs down their collective throats. Manipulating Supreme Court justices. Demanding legislation. Picketing and rioting. Revering wicked politicians and wicked pastors. They view Christians as hypocrites, and they are right. The gall of claiming to have a nature that pursues mercy while extending our accusing finger at the world and screaming sinner! Because, you know, Jesus right? (We have nothing to say in response to this stream-of-consciousness, irrelevant diatribe.
We can no longer abide by Rev. Wade's verbal spewing. We shall cease commenting.)
"Fourth, doing good also means opposing evil, and there are many verses in the New Testament that clearly call us to do what is good. What then, does that good look like in action? What would doing good look like if you were a slaveowner who became a Christian? Just giving your slave a cup of cold water? Or setting your slave free? Fifth, as we oppose evil, as we call out injustice, as we push back against immorality, we are becoming more like Jesus, being conformed to His image. This is part of our preparation for eternity." - Dr. Michael Brown
Ok, if being conformed to the image of Christ means fighting culture wars why didn't Jesus say so? Or better yet, why did He do the exact opposite when He walked the earth? In his tortured slave analogy Brown fails to see that forcing people to not legally sin does not actually stop them from sinning and that only the gospel has that power. While the New Testament tells us what to do in our lives that can be considered "good" it in no way then demands that we force everyone else to behave as we do. What is truly sad here is that Dr. Brown uses lesser evils to fight his perceived greater evils. That is dominionism. People like Mario Murillo and Greg Locke are just more honest about it. To them the Republican Party is the godly choice and if you vote Democratic you are going to hell. The problem is the people Brown believes in are just as evil as the people he would rail against.
"Sixth, God makes clear over and again in His Word that the kind of spirituality He is looking for does not consist of long-winded prayers or pious displays of fasting. Rather, He says clearly, our fasting must be the backdrop for our holy actions, setting the captives free, caring for the orphan and widow, standing up to injustice in the courts (see Isaiah 58)." - Dr. Michael Brown
There is nothing holy about forcing our faith upon the lost. That would mean the Crusades were holy. Only the gospel sets the captives free. There is nothing about the chosen political affiliation of Brown the remotely wants to see justice in the courts or pleads the case of the orphan and the widow.
"Seventh, just as we feed the hungry and give to the poor, helping those we can even while knowing that we will never eradicate hunger and poverty, we do the same with the culture wars. We help those we can help. We save a baby's life when we can. We get an ungodly sex-ed curriculum removed from our local school. We expose discriminatory treatment of a minority colleague in the workplace. Every life counts, and every battle won has significance." - Dr. Michael Brown
This is so disingenuous. To lump in feeding the hungry and fighting discrimination with campaigns designed to codify our beliefs upon the lost is simply unfair and a poor comparison. The real problem of course is the fact that Brown wants to use one group of corrupt and evil men to pit against another. The reality however is that the chosen group, the Republicans, want nothing to do with combatting hunger and poverty. Heck, hungry and poor people try every day to come into this country and Brown would argue they should be thrown out. Realize too that no one is suggesting that as parents and community members we cannot choose to make our case for why one curriculum is bad for our kids and others might be more beneficial. The problem is that the dominionist thinks their answers are holy and righteous and all other opinions are evil, words Brown has used in this very article, and thus they seek permanent legislative or judicial decisions to enforce their beliefs. What Brown and the dominionists argue is for these causes to be taken up by the church.
Eighth, since the Messiah's mission includes bringing justice to the nations, and since we are His voice and His hands and feet in this world, pursuing justice is part of our divine mission (see Isaiah 42:1-8).
This is not so clever sleight of hand. The referenced scripture, which we have made part of it the key verses for this devotional, is a prophecy about Christ. It is a great foretelling by God of the plan He has for the salvation of man. The word nations is used to portray the gentile people of the world and not meant to infer political argument. The pursuit of justice Jesus will undertake is related to sin and salvation, not the passage of immigration law or the banning of marriage we feel is beneath the teachings of scripture. The key verses reinforce that the world is indeed walking in darkness and God opens their eyes through either the acceptance of the gospel or through judgment for rejecting it. The Lord is HIS name and He gives His glory to none other. Not Michael Brown, politician or pseudo-Christian operative. He gives no praise to carved idols and the pursuit of dominionism is indeed a carved idol beloved. It is quite possibly the last idol of the church age. These passages have nothing to do with seeking carnal men to pass carnal laws and wrapping it up with false piety. God does not seek better behavior from us before consideration for salvation. Rather, He seeks faith from us in Him and through Him. We then see sin as He does and our works start to match our faith. Dominionism skips the salvation part and seeks to cure sinful behavior through the efforts of sinful men. That is not what Isaiah is prophesying here and not the plan of God.
"Ninth, by standing up for the downtrodden and hurting, we demonstrate the depth of our relationship with God. As the Lord said with regard to the godly King Josiah, "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD." (Jer. 22:16) That is a truly striking verse." - Dr. Michael Brown
Brown continues his litany of strawman arguments that have nothing to do with the original topic he proffered. This was supposed to be defending the church being engaged in the culture wars it seems so enamored with. This can hardly be described as standing up for the downtrodden and hurting. The side Brown has chosen to affiliate with is notorious for not being on the side of the hurting and downtrodden. King Josiah by the way, was King of Judah. That means he reigned over God's people, not the lost.
"Tenth, when we oppose evil and do good, we are functioning as the Lord's witnesses, thereby calling the society to account and setting a standard for others to follow. This, too, is part of our gospel calling. The reality is that, until Jesus returns, we will be in a tug of war with the world, sometimes making real progress and sometimes losing ground." - Dr. Michael Brown
Sigh. It is most certainly not our job to call society to account. That is God's job. The arrogance is overwhelming. Dr. Brown thinks that there are sneaky squid spirits and calls Benny Hinn a good brother in the Lord but he thinks he is capable of judging the nations, wow. What is worse, is he thinks God has called us to judge the nations. Bill Johnson. Kris Vallotton. Joseph Prince. The guy sitting next to you in church service checking his Facebook feed during the sermon. Brian Houston before he had to resign. Carl Lentz while he was cheating on his wife with the babysitter. None are righteous Dr. Brown! None seek after God! What part of scripture do you refuse to understand! Dear Lord and you think this is part of the gospel? The tug of war we will always be in until Christ returns is between us and the world in our lives - not that we have arrived and they have not so let me stick my nose into the details of their sin! We set a godly standard by living our lives according to scripture, like in the example above of the two case managers who used to work for me. We cannot "set a standard for others to follow" by demanding that they follow! What part of they think the things of God are foolishness do you not understand?
"But either way, we must keep our grip and maintain our resolve, wanting to hand things to the next generation in better shape than we received them while knowing that ultimate victory awaits the Lord's return. And while we also keep the Great Commission first and foremost in our hearts and minds, we recognize that Jesus didn't simply call us to win the lost but to make disciples.
This is how disciples live." - Dr. Michael Brown
Yes, but we cannot make disciples without first winning the lost. By removing the actual preaching of the gospel in favor of passing legislation, we never get to step two. Brown and his dominionist allies remind me of James and John from Luke 9 after seeing the Samaritan village reject Jesus. Did they respond with love and compassion? No. They asked if they should call down fire from heaven. Scripture says Jesus rebuked them much like Brown needs to be rebuked today for this in a never-ending line of writing designed to excuse his own idolatrous behavior. Brown may indeed mean well but that is no longer relevant. The unsaved are not our enemies. We are not at war with them. Even if we genuinely believe they are wrong on certain cultural issues our job is to represent Crist in our lives and present the gospel to them through the collective efforts of the church. There is no legislation that can save us as sinful human beings beloved. There are no judicial decrees that can save the human soul. By the way, the "nations" of the lost go beyond our carnal shores. Hating the outsider is not Christian either. Do not follow other men or place your faith in their solutions. Your lesser perceived evil is just your opinion and either way, at the end of the day, remains evil.
"Fourth, doing good also means opposing evil, and there are many verses in the New Testament that clearly call us to do what is good. What then, does that good look like in action? What would doing good look like if you were a slaveowner who became a Christian? Just giving your slave a cup of cold water? Or setting your slave free? Fifth, as we oppose evil, as we call out injustice, as we push back against immorality, we are becoming more like Jesus, being conformed to His image. This is part of our preparation for eternity." - Dr. Michael Brown
Ok, if being conformed to the image of Christ means fighting culture wars why didn't Jesus say so? Or better yet, why did He do the exact opposite when He walked the earth? In his tortured slave analogy Brown fails to see that forcing people to not legally sin does not actually stop them from sinning and that only the gospel has that power. While the New Testament tells us what to do in our lives that can be considered "good" it in no way then demands that we force everyone else to behave as we do. What is truly sad here is that Dr. Brown uses lesser evils to fight his perceived greater evils. That is dominionism. People like Mario Murillo and Greg Locke are just more honest about it. To them the Republican Party is the godly choice and if you vote Democratic you are going to hell. The problem is the people Brown believes in are just as evil as the people he would rail against.
"Sixth, God makes clear over and again in His Word that the kind of spirituality He is looking for does not consist of long-winded prayers or pious displays of fasting. Rather, He says clearly, our fasting must be the backdrop for our holy actions, setting the captives free, caring for the orphan and widow, standing up to injustice in the courts (see Isaiah 58)." - Dr. Michael Brown
There is nothing holy about forcing our faith upon the lost. That would mean the Crusades were holy. Only the gospel sets the captives free. There is nothing about the chosen political affiliation of Brown the remotely wants to see justice in the courts or pleads the case of the orphan and the widow.
"Seventh, just as we feed the hungry and give to the poor, helping those we can even while knowing that we will never eradicate hunger and poverty, we do the same with the culture wars. We help those we can help. We save a baby's life when we can. We get an ungodly sex-ed curriculum removed from our local school. We expose discriminatory treatment of a minority colleague in the workplace. Every life counts, and every battle won has significance." - Dr. Michael Brown
This is so disingenuous. To lump in feeding the hungry and fighting discrimination with campaigns designed to codify our beliefs upon the lost is simply unfair and a poor comparison. The real problem of course is the fact that Brown wants to use one group of corrupt and evil men to pit against another. The reality however is that the chosen group, the Republicans, want nothing to do with combatting hunger and poverty. Heck, hungry and poor people try every day to come into this country and Brown would argue they should be thrown out. Realize too that no one is suggesting that as parents and community members we cannot choose to make our case for why one curriculum is bad for our kids and others might be more beneficial. The problem is that the dominionist thinks their answers are holy and righteous and all other opinions are evil, words Brown has used in this very article, and thus they seek permanent legislative or judicial decisions to enforce their beliefs. What Brown and the dominionists argue is for these causes to be taken up by the church.
Eighth, since the Messiah's mission includes bringing justice to the nations, and since we are His voice and His hands and feet in this world, pursuing justice is part of our divine mission (see Isaiah 42:1-8).
This is not so clever sleight of hand. The referenced scripture, which we have made part of it the key verses for this devotional, is a prophecy about Christ. It is a great foretelling by God of the plan He has for the salvation of man. The word nations is used to portray the gentile people of the world and not meant to infer political argument. The pursuit of justice Jesus will undertake is related to sin and salvation, not the passage of immigration law or the banning of marriage we feel is beneath the teachings of scripture. The key verses reinforce that the world is indeed walking in darkness and God opens their eyes through either the acceptance of the gospel or through judgment for rejecting it. The Lord is HIS name and He gives His glory to none other. Not Michael Brown, politician or pseudo-Christian operative. He gives no praise to carved idols and the pursuit of dominionism is indeed a carved idol beloved. It is quite possibly the last idol of the church age. These passages have nothing to do with seeking carnal men to pass carnal laws and wrapping it up with false piety. God does not seek better behavior from us before consideration for salvation. Rather, He seeks faith from us in Him and through Him. We then see sin as He does and our works start to match our faith. Dominionism skips the salvation part and seeks to cure sinful behavior through the efforts of sinful men. That is not what Isaiah is prophesying here and not the plan of God.
"Ninth, by standing up for the downtrodden and hurting, we demonstrate the depth of our relationship with God. As the Lord said with regard to the godly King Josiah, "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD." (Jer. 22:16) That is a truly striking verse." - Dr. Michael Brown
Brown continues his litany of strawman arguments that have nothing to do with the original topic he proffered. This was supposed to be defending the church being engaged in the culture wars it seems so enamored with. This can hardly be described as standing up for the downtrodden and hurting. The side Brown has chosen to affiliate with is notorious for not being on the side of the hurting and downtrodden. King Josiah by the way, was King of Judah. That means he reigned over God's people, not the lost.
"Tenth, when we oppose evil and do good, we are functioning as the Lord's witnesses, thereby calling the society to account and setting a standard for others to follow. This, too, is part of our gospel calling. The reality is that, until Jesus returns, we will be in a tug of war with the world, sometimes making real progress and sometimes losing ground." - Dr. Michael Brown
Sigh. It is most certainly not our job to call society to account. That is God's job. The arrogance is overwhelming. Dr. Brown thinks that there are sneaky squid spirits and calls Benny Hinn a good brother in the Lord but he thinks he is capable of judging the nations, wow. What is worse, is he thinks God has called us to judge the nations. Bill Johnson. Kris Vallotton. Joseph Prince. The guy sitting next to you in church service checking his Facebook feed during the sermon. Brian Houston before he had to resign. Carl Lentz while he was cheating on his wife with the babysitter. None are righteous Dr. Brown! None seek after God! What part of scripture do you refuse to understand! Dear Lord and you think this is part of the gospel? The tug of war we will always be in until Christ returns is between us and the world in our lives - not that we have arrived and they have not so let me stick my nose into the details of their sin! We set a godly standard by living our lives according to scripture, like in the example above of the two case managers who used to work for me. We cannot "set a standard for others to follow" by demanding that they follow! What part of they think the things of God are foolishness do you not understand?
"But either way, we must keep our grip and maintain our resolve, wanting to hand things to the next generation in better shape than we received them while knowing that ultimate victory awaits the Lord's return. And while we also keep the Great Commission first and foremost in our hearts and minds, we recognize that Jesus didn't simply call us to win the lost but to make disciples.
This is how disciples live." - Dr. Michael Brown
Yes, but we cannot make disciples without first winning the lost. By removing the actual preaching of the gospel in favor of passing legislation, we never get to step two. Brown and his dominionist allies remind me of James and John from Luke 9 after seeing the Samaritan village reject Jesus. Did they respond with love and compassion? No. They asked if they should call down fire from heaven. Scripture says Jesus rebuked them much like Brown needs to be rebuked today for this in a never-ending line of writing designed to excuse his own idolatrous behavior. Brown may indeed mean well but that is no longer relevant. The unsaved are not our enemies. We are not at war with them. Even if we genuinely believe they are wrong on certain cultural issues our job is to represent Crist in our lives and present the gospel to them through the collective efforts of the church. There is no legislation that can save us as sinful human beings beloved. There are no judicial decrees that can save the human soul. By the way, the "nations" of the lost go beyond our carnal shores. Hating the outsider is not Christian either. Do not follow other men or place your faith in their solutions. Your lesser perceived evil is just your opinion and either way, at the end of the day, remains evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment