A sinners' market

In the year 2022 Christians in any city in the Western World could hardly have a good excuse for not going to church. There are churches of every flavour and persuasion available within close range. But fussiness about religion is not unique to our age.

John the Baptist and Jesus were quite different in their styles of preaching. Their upbringing and occupations also differed greatly. John was in all probability an only child, brought up as a Nazarite by old parents. He lived in the desert, quite possibly in an Essene commune where studying the Hebrew Bible was an important part of his daily life. Jesus, on the other hand, grew up with brothers and sisters, and most likely had a trade. After their Bar Mitzva Jewish boys often got involved in their fathers' business.

Whereas John "grew and became strong in spirit" (Luke 1:80), Jesus "progressed in wisdom and maturity and favour with God and people" (Luke 2:52). John had a very non-indulgent lifestyle and there is no record of him ever doing a miracle. Jesus spent a lot of time among 'ordinary people' and even outcasts of society. He healed people who suffered from demonic oppression, diseases and disabilities.

One could say the message of Jesus was characterised by him inviting all those who would to become citizens of the Kingdom of God. He came to call sinners rather than the righteous, to seek and to save the lost (Luke 5:32; 19:10). John's main message was for his hearers to turn from their sins and live righteously (Luke 3:8).

Jesus berated the people of his generation for their failure to act on his message or the message of John. They found fault with both of the preachers. One's lifestyle was too severe and the other too easy-going for their liking (Luke 7:31-35). Today there are preachers who emphasise repentance and righteous living and others who emphasise God's forgiveness and restoration. There is a wide variety of churches for sinners to pick from!

Eternal life

 An expert in Jewish law (the Torah, Old Testament) tested Jesus by asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25). Jesus had addressed the Jewish leaders on this topic. He had told them to believe in him (John 5:39-40).

A young successful man asked Jesus the same question, but with a purer motive (Luke 18:18). He may have read in the Psalms that David was confident that he would experience the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13). Jesus loved him for his sincerity (Mark 10:21). He did not make a disciple of him just then, but who knows if the man later changed his mind?

Immortality seems to have been a talking point in Jewish culture in the days of Jesus. After they had sinned against their Creator humans were prevented from eating from the tree of life "and live forever" (Genesis 3:22). Yet the Pharisees taught that the dead would be raised on the "last day" and it was believed by people such as Martha (John 11:24). When the Sadducees' objected to this doctrine Jesus answered them by quoting the voice of God to Moses from the burning bush. Why would God, who lives forever, call himself the God of of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob if they had ceased to exist (Mark 12:26)?

My boss accused me of being a "time glutton" when I told him I wanted to live forever. I was basing my confidence on Jesus' promise in John 5:24. Jesus gave me the right to become a son of God because I believed in him (John 1:12). Believers in Jesus sell themselves short if they focus most of their time and energy on this life (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Some believe "life after death" will be boring. Do they imagine the apostle Peter will send them for harp lessons so that they can lie on a cloud and make music for all eternity? Do they believe this present cursed world to be more interesting than the world to come? I am waiting for redemption, not only of this world, but also of my body (Romans 8:22-25). I am looking forward to joining Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 8:10-11, Luke 13:29).

Ascension Day Rant

The cessationists are getting under my skin. I've seen them on YouTube and some of my friends are getting influenced. Have they nothing better to do than criticise Pentecostals and Charismatics?

They are quick to point out when excesses occur in meetings of Charismatics. I want to ask them:

1. In which epistle does Paul teach on spiritual gifts more than any other epistle?

2. Are you aware of the fact that Paul rebuked that congregation for their immorality?

3. Do you think that the way they conducted their communion meetings could serve as a model for us?

4. Did you know that a definition of the gospel can be found in this epistle?

5. Did you know that Paul's doctrine on the resurrection of the dead is best expounded in this epistle?

6. Did you read that Paul said he spoke in tongues more than them all?

7. What do you think Paul meant when he said a person who spoke in tongues edifies himself?

Among the cessationists are those who have assigned themselves the role of watchmen over doctrinal purity. They mostly bad-mouth the preachers whom they judge to be peddlers of "cheap grace". I have the following questions for them: How do you interpret Mark 9:38-40, James 4:11-12 and Philippians 1:15-18?

I am not a proponent of cheap grace but we must never forget that Jesus was accused of being a "friend of sinners". He did not deny this accusation but associated with those whose sinful lifestyles caused them to be outcasts. Examples are the sinful Samaritan woman, Zaccaeus the tax collector and the woman caught in adultery. He did not condone their sin but nevertheless sided with them against their accusers who acted as self-appointed judges, juries and executioners.

Is it not possible that some preachers find it hard to make converts and therefore conclude that those who are successful must be "watering down" the gospel? Well, maybe Jesus also made it easy for anyone to follow him as in the examples mentioned above.

When he called for repentance Jesus combined it with the phrase "the Kingdom of heaven is here". This is what he meant in 21st century language: "Change your minds about religion. Your awaited Messiah is in your midst". In the beginning he told his apostles not to divulge his identity.  As far as I can tell the first "outsider" he told was the Samaritan woman. But in the last week of his life he made all sorts of outrageous claims such as being "the resurrection and the life", "the light of the world", "one with the Father" and more. His intention was clearly to draw attention to himself. He had arrived at the last lap of his journey in flesh and blood and he wanted the world to know.

If you read this and think you can get away with "cheap grace" I want to draw your attention to the parables of Jesus in Matthew 13:24-30; 13:47-50; 22:1-14.                                                                                                                                   

Eyes of my heart

When I first read that Jesus said “the eye is the lamp of the body” he lost me right there. Since I’m scientifically trained I know the eye does not emit light like a lamp. Our eyes are more like windows, letting light in.

But Jesus was speaking metaphorically. He was talking about a heart attitude. In Matthew 6:22-23 the context was the competition in our hearts between God and money. How we view money reveals where our treasure is. The direct translation of his description of eyes would use the words “single” or “evil”. Some modern translations use words like “healthy” or “unhealthy” which does not do justice to the Greek. A single eye can be related to the beatitude in Matthew 5:8, namely that the pure in heart will see God. A love of money is idolatry which Jesus attributed to an evil eye which brings darkness. Something strange about this verse is that my spiritual eye lights up my body. I would have thought it was my soul that got light from my heart attitude. But I think Jesus wants us to appreciate the importance of our bodies. He is aware of the close connection our bodies have to our souls, especially in the area he was addressing, namely daily needs.

In Luke 11:34-36 the context was the attitude of the Jews to him. They refused to believe that he had been sent by God and accused him of driving out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. They wanted a sign from heaven before they would believe in him. Jesus had very harsh words for them, saying that the people of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba would accuse them of their unbelief on Judgement Day. The reason: Someone greater than Jonah or Solomon was there in their midst! In Matthew 15:14 he spoke about blind leaders with blind followers. He also linked the blindness of the Jewish leaders with their unwillingness to acknowledge that they were sinners (John 9:41).

In both of the above cases the eye is the faculty we use to make judgements. Jesus used eyes in his teaching on how we ought to judge others (Matthew 7:1-6). We tend to overlook our own faults but see them in other people. Psychologists call this projection and much has been written on the topic. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection. On a positive note, Paul prayed for the Ephesians "that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people" (Ephesians 1:18).

Elijah and Elisha

 Many a preacher has confused the two above prophets, fumbling while preaching and wondering who came first and who did what. Some of the uncertainty can be avoided by recalling the meanings of their names.

Elijah means YHWH is God, derived from El and Yah. This was in fact the chant of the Israelites after Elijah had successfully challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:39). Some English Bibles use LORD for the tetragrammaton YHWH. Elisha means God is salvation, derived from El and yasha. He came after Elijah and had a double portion of the Spirit who was on Elijah.

(See https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Elijah.html and https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Elisha.html)

The Jews expected and still expect Elijah to come before the appearance of the Messiah. This notion is based on Malachi 4:5. Jesus said John the Baptist was the Elijah they were waiting for (Matthew 17:12-14). It makes sense therefore to compare Jesus to Elisha. Joseph was to call him Jeshua because he would save his people from their sin (Matthew 1:21).

I would go further by believing it is not a coincidence that the Hebrew for salvation starts with "ya". It is just another indication that Yah is salvation. In other words, Jesus is none other than YHWH in the flesh! Is that why neither of the words Jesus or Yahweh are to be pronounced by adherents of Judaism?

Faces

 It took many experts several decades to develop facial recognition software. But a few days after birth a baby instantly recognises the face of its mother. Face recognition is "system 1 thinking" in the words of Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. Such thinking is instinctive and very fast.

The question arises as to how much "body language" is exhibited by our faces. In his book Talking to Strangers Malcolm Gladwell maintains that what we read in a person's face is dependent on the cultures of the speaker and of the hearer.

Unfortunately much of what we read in facial expressions is fake. I refer to the movies we look at. Even at live performances celebrities often put on their "game faces". In any case, one may ask how authentic the body language is of a face that has been surgically reconstructed.

The Bible records a number of instances when faces took on an extraordinary complexion. Moses' face shone when he came down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Jesus' face shone like the sun while on the Mount of Transfiguration. When Stephen was facing his accusers his face became like the "face of and angel". The icons of saints in the early church were painted with halos. Were these painters trying to portray shining faces?

There is no guarantee that a face will be recognised for the innocence and benevolence of its owner. The most loving, honest and upright person who ever lived elicited hatred from religious leaders who felt threatened by him. And the prophet wrote about him that he was not extraordinarily attractive (Isaiah 53:2). Yet he was the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).

The devil said to God about Job that he would "curse you to your face" if God would stop blessing him (Job 1:11). Was he talking from experience? Is Isaiah 14:14 an account of satan looking into the face of the Son of God and saying "who do you think you are?" Did the snake then trick Eve into enticing her husband to fall into the same trap, namely to arrogantly usurp the position reserved for the Christ? It would seem as if the face of God was not threatening enough to stop Adam from doing just that. We know that Jesus had exactly the opposite attitude (Philippians 2:6-8). And if we are honest enough to admit it, there is something in every human heart urging us to know better than God.

But Psalmists urge us to seek the face of God (Psalm 27:8; 105:4) and blessings are promised to those who do (2 Chronicles 7:14). The blessing the priests spoke over the Israelites includes a plea to God to make his face shine on them (Numbers 6:25).

How do we seek God's face? Do we see his face reflected in the faces of fellow believers? Paul said we are changed into his image when we look at the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). Jesus said the righteous will "shine like the sun" in the Kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43).

The Pentecostal distinctive

 A lot has been written about the inerrancy of the Bible. On the one hand there are those who emphasise the fact that the 66 books of the Bible were written by fallible humans. On the other hand some say every word was inspired by God.

If my source is correct, Muslims believe that the Quran was dictated directly to Muhammad word for word by an angel. That would be why only the Arabic text is regarded as perfectly reliable. Bob Dylan claimed to have written the anthemic protest song ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ in a matter of minutes. When asked by Ed Bradley in 2004 how he wrote the song he said it was from “that wellspring of creativity”.

All of us who regularly pray in a language unknown to ourselves know that at such a time our minds are “unfruitful”, in the words of Paul (1 Corinthians 14:14). We also know that when we prophesy, our minds are not completely unfruitful. That is the reason why Paul said prophesies need to be judged. When our brains are engaged we are prone to making mistakes.

Peter said the prophets of old tried “to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing” and that  “it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you” (1 Peter 1:11-12). Clearly, those prophets did not understand everything they received from the Holy Spirit. A typical example would be David's words “they cast lots for my garment” (Psalm 22:18).

But Luke wrote his gospel after he had “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” (Luke 1:3). His mind was obviously very engaged in his endeavour  “to write an orderly account”. We have to conclude that there is a spectrum of possibilities when one speaks for God. In the Bible the human and the divine cannot always be distinguished.

I do think most Pentecostals and Charismatics will agree that the process by which the Canon of the Bible was compiled was inspired by God. There were and still are many books that have an element of inspiration, for example the apocrypha. I believe this very article I am now writing is inspired by the Almighty. But the 66 books we regard as final authority will not change.