Spirit Filled Puritan

Well with another fall of the Stock Market, I’ve received another flurry of “get ready for the rapture” and Barak Obama is the anti-christ emails.   Here’s an election related one someone sent me with a note to visit this site.

I really feel like doing what Ringo Starr did this week.  If you didn’t see this, check it out.  He actually put out a video telling fans not to send him any more fan mail or objects to autograph.  “This is a serious message…please do not send fan mail to any address you have… nothing will be signed after the 20th of October,” he said.  

I think I will…“This is a serious message, after today, October 17th, please do not send me any more emails about the Rapture, Barak Obama being the anti-christ or the new world order”.

Honestly, do we as American Christians think our wallets are the indicator of the end of the world?  Where in the Bible does it say that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is God’s prophetic clock?   Do we think ourselves more worthy to be saved from our decadent excesses than those who have nothing, yet are being persecuted in India, Africa or the Middle East?   How arrogant can we get!  How about a little perspective on what it means to really “suffer” as a Christian…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4727215.ece

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/16/christians-persecuted-in-india/

http://www.agi.it/world/news/200810151914-cro-ren0092-art.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/28/bible.burning/index.html

http://www.persecution.com/recent_saudiFatherKilling.html

Notice, what’s conspicuously absent from all of these reports?  There’s no call by these suffering saints for the rapture.  Why is that? 

Christian history, and most notably, the last 100 years,  is filled with the stories of those who believed they would see the end of the world.  In some cases their motives were sincere; other times they were not.  However, in all cases, their judgment was  wrong.  Ultimately, it was arrogance and pride what led to their failure in judgment.  The end result was that lives were wasted, Christian witness was ruined and many false prophets became rich.  No American generation has been so affected by this expectation than the current one. 

When John Winthrop led the Puritans from England to the Massachusetts Colony in 1629, he wrote to those seeking religious freedom of becoming a “city upon a hill”, a reference to Jesus metaphor in the sermon on the mount.  In it, he didn’t preach a “rapture” but called for the reformation of society through the Gospel and for people to consider the implications their lives would have on the world.   The “city” he envisioned would either shine by their humility and faithfulness or be consumed by their arrogance and pride.  He said…

“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken… we shall be made a story and a by-word throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God… We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us til we be consumed out of the good land whither we are a-going.” – John Winthrop

Are we reaping Winthrop’s legacy?  Have we abandoned our “city on the hill”  for the the lights of Hollywood or Wall Street?  Have the villages of Eastern India, the house churches of China, the Christians of the Middle East become Winthop’s  “cities”?  Are we shaming their sacrifices with our arrogance?

Years ago,  my hobby (as I called it) was trying to match current events to Biblical prophesy with the goal of predicting “the end”.     I believed this way for over 10 years, spending all my free time reading books on World War 3, Anti-christ, 666, computers in Belgium, etc.  Yet, it was through this “hobby”, and my God-given appetite for Christian history, that He revealed to me that my motives and beliefs were wrongly focused.  He graciously moved the focus off myself, by exposing the pride of my heart and refocused my heart on Him and the work He wanted me to do.   

God drew my attention to a plaque on the wall of my office, that hung there for nearly 5 years.  I’ll never forget how it took on a new meaning that day in 1993.  It said… 

"On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions, who, at the dawn of victory, sat down to wait, and waiting–died!"  –  George W. Cecil

I was faced with a choice.  Either, 1) continue to speculate on the future, which, eternally speaking, gained me nothing but fame in my own mind or 2) move forward and re-build “the city on a hill.”   Today, by His grace, and only by His grace, I continue to move forward.

“It is a shame that so many Christians can quite readily dialogue about the latest theory as to the Antichrist’s identity, when at the same time they are unable to defend the deity and humanity of Christ from the pages of Holy Scripture” – Kim Riddlebarger

This is not an isolated story.  There are many references in the Bible about money.  Yet they all tell much the same story.   Its given by God for our use on Earth, for His glory. 

So if this is the case, what is the right response to money?

Life is not about the accumulation of “stuff”.  It’s also not about a journey of discovery.  It’s about relationship with the Giver of not only money, but life itself.  Its about coming to grips with who you are, why you are here, what is wrong with the world and how can what’s wrong, be made right.  It’s all about your response to these 4 questions (1).   Why?  Because your response to these 4 questions will dictate your response towards money.

I would encourage you to read this book, with your Bible in hand, and then respond to these 4 questions.  No “Big Money” needed, you can read it free here.  Or if you want a hard copy, you can get one here.

(1) Credit to Voddie Baucham, for beautifully articulating these 4 questions in the book,  The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, by John Piper and Justin Taylor.  Crossway Publishers

While this may be somewhat off topic, I think its relevant for the times we live in and the growing “worry” over the financial markets.

It’s very easy to get depressed, carried away or even scared by reading the Bloomberg financial page each day.  Let me give you a run down of today’s financial news…

• Stocks in US slide as Bank Lending Seizes Up Following AIG Bailout
• Morgan Stanley and Goldman Shares Plunge
• Russia Pours Cash Into Banks, Halts Stock Trading to Stem Financial Crisis
• AIG Slumps as US Takeover Seen Wiping Out Investors’ Stakes
• Pelosi, Frank Want Bigger Role for Congress in Resolving Financial Crisis

You don’t need an MBA or Financial Advisor to tell you that things aren’t good in the world of money.  While you may think this is just bad for the rich and powerful, you’re wrong.  What’s bad for Wall Street ultimately becomes bad for everyone.

This blog is not the platform for voicing an opinion on how we should best solve this crisis or which one of the presidential candidates is best suited to solve all our problems.  Honesty, I don’t think any one person, government or Central Bank can solve it.  However, it is good to get a handle on what exactly is happening.

My old Economics professor used to quote former Federal Reserve Chairman William McChesney Martin Jr. and his famous line “the role of the Fed is to take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going.”  Well the party’s been going on for a while now however in an ironic twist, it’s the Fed and their surrogates on Wall Street who were drunk and buying their spiked punch on credit.  They didn’t have the where-with-all to stop the party until they realized the liquor store had run dry!  Now they are feeling the effects of their partying like a bad hangover the day after and everyone is looking for someone to blame.

Rather than piling on or reacting to the current crisis by stocking up on food and ammo and heading to Montana with the dog, we should be looking towards the one who brings peace in turmoil.  Paul the Apostle cautioned Timothy (1 Tim 6:17) that the rich were not to place their hopes in money, but in God.  What naturally follows is that we should not imitate the rich and place our hope in either the rich men who control the money or riches we accumulate.  Ultimately they crumble.  Just ask the former employees of failed Wall Street firms.   Entire lives of work and energy were rendered worthless  in seconds.  401K’s are now worth less than the paper statements they are printed on.

John Piper said this years ago and it stuck with me.

“There are hundreds of you – who don’t care whether you make a lasting difference for something great, you just want people to like you. If people would just like you, you’d be satisfied. Or if you could just have good job with a good wife or husband and a couple good kids and a nice car and long weekends and a few good friends, good health, a fun retirement, and quick and easy death and no hell – if you could have that (minus God) – you’d be satisfied. THAT is a tragedy in the making….And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. DON’T BUY IT!”

Many are and more will be, waking up to a reality that laying up treasure here is not the root of happiness and joy.  The tragedy is not that people are losing their retirements and savings, its the fact they pursued the accumulation of wealth at great cost to themselves, their families and their God.  They wasted precious time that can never be redeemed.

A few years back, this book changed my outlook on life.  In it, I saw that I was called to consider Philippians 3:7-14, not just as good advice from Paul or the domain of super-human Christians,  but as a defining statement of who I am in Christ.  These verses were the filter through which I was to see the world and be the guiding principles for everything I  do.

In reality, I did waste much of my life.  I can’t help the time that was wasted before I was awakened by the Gospel.   However, what is more sobering is the reality that I continued to waste my life as a Christian by pursing worldly desires for peace and security.

Don’t waste your life accumulating wealth or prosperity.  Don’t place your hopes in your efforts or your broker’s efforts.  Don’t define your worth by your 401K.  Read this book and get your Bible to follow along.

“The un-wasted life is the life in which everything you do put’s Christ on display, as supremely valuable.  You have been given life by God for this one main reason…to make Christ look great!  I count everything as loss, money as loss, food as loss, looks as loss, friends as loss, family as loss, job and success as loss, in comparison with the treasure that Christ has become for me”  – John Piper in applying Philippians 1:20-21 and 3:7-14 in life.