I know this is well behind the times, but I just got access to an audio copy of William Young’s The Shack. Since I took the time to read this book that has become so popular, I decided to write down a couple of points. Be warned, I’m not impressed.
Occasionally beneficial and generally dangerous—and not in a good way–, The Shack is a book that should not be read by those whose theology is not solid. William young’s tale is compelling at times, encouraging at times, infuriating at times, and blasphemous at times. Young writes an emotionally charged fiction that grabs at the heart strings, but which leaves readers clinging to a faulty notion of God.
In this book, Young:
· Rejects the authority and sufficiency of the Scripture.
· Rejects biblical notions of relationships of authority and submission.
· Rejects most notions of the local church.
· Rejects the sovereignty of God.
· Elevates the autonomy of man to a place which degrades God.
· Trivializes each person in the Holy Trinity.
· Comes dangerously close to redefining God as a quadrinity with “Sophia” (wisdom) as a fourth person.
· Presents a completely unbiblical picture of forgiveness.
· Totally misses the atonement, failing to see Christ as a vicarious substitute.
· Leans toward universalism.
· Arrogantly corrects the theology of nearly 2,000 years of church history.
Can I come up with anything useful in The Shack? I think so. If a Christian is mature enough to carefully identify and set aside the obvious and the subtle heresy in this book, he or she might be challenged to have a more personal, more intimate, understanding of his or her relationship with God. Much like reading the Left Behind series, reading The Shack can stir a Christian’s imagination to more fully imagine what it will be like to be in the presence of God. Though the picture of the persons of the trinity in The Shack are not appealing in many ways (Jesus sure chuckles a lot), the concept of remembering that we are serving areal, personal God is very important. It is good to, with Scripture, allow your mind to imagine and long for the day when you stand in his presence.
Sadly, I cannot in any way recommend The Shack. There is just too much wrong in this book, and its few positives cannot atone for it.
[I listened to an audio recording of this book, and thus cannot site page numbers to go along with my points above.]
God is Working Behind the Scenes
Judges 7:9-15
9 That same night the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. 11 And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. 13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” 14 And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”
15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.”
Have you ever thought to yourself that you would like to share your faith with someone, but it just wouldn’t do any good? Have you ever thought that your effort might be too little, too poorly timed, too socially awkward, and thus simply not worth the effort or risk? Have you ever thought that a little word of gospel would not be worth sharing? If so, take a look with me at what God did with Gideon in Judges 7, and see if it doesn’t’ encourage you just a bit.
In Judges 7, Gideon is facing unbelievable odds. There is an army of 135,000 well-armed men opposing his little band of 300. There is just no way that those guys from the smallest and weakest tribes in Israel could ever do anything to get rid of the armies of Midian.
As Gideon shakes in his boots, knowing full well that God had called him to take on that army but not believing it could be done, God pulls back the curtain for Gideon to show him something wonderful. God sends Gideon down into the Midianite camp, and lets him ease drop on a conversation between two Midianite soldiers. What Gideon learns helps him to see that God has done the work behind the scenes that would bring down the Midianite army. God has been sending the Midianites nightmares. The soldiers of Midian were having dreams about being crushed by the army of God under the leadership of Gideon. When Gideon hears this truth, he realizes that God has made it possible to see the Israelite army victorious over their enemies.
What happened next? Gideon gathered his men, and helped them to sneak up on the Midianite camp. The Israelites were carrying torches and trumpets, not much for battle gear. The torches were shaded with clay pots on top, so the flames would not be visible. Then, Gideon instructed them to smash those pots, making the sound of destruction audible from all around the camp. The previously-hidden torchlight would have flared in the darkness. Then the Israelites blew their trumpets and shouted.
The Midianites, who were sleeping and suffering the terrors of the dreams that God was giving them awoke to the crash of breaking pottery, the flash of brilliant light where there had previously been darkness, the blast of trumpets, and the shouts of their enemies. The terror of the Medianites reached such a level that they took up their swords and slaughtered each other without ever even turning to attack their enemies. God delivered Israel from the hand of Midian, though it looked truly impossible.
Now, back to our original question: Have you ever felt like sharing a gospel witness will simply not work? You have no idea what God has been doing behind the scenes. You do not know what God has done in the heart of a person you are thinking about or meeting for the first time. You do not know what kind of dreams they have been having, what kind of struggles they have gone through, what kind of secret thoughts they are having that might be heightening their understanding of their need for grace. You never know whether or not God has done the work before you to bring a sinner’s dead heart to life, even if you cannot see that work being done.
If you do not know what God has been doing behind the scenes, you do not know what kind of a glorious impact your word of witness might have. God can use your effort to point someone to Christ to be the one that breaks through their darkened heart and helps them to be saved. God can use weak instruments like Gideon, like me, or like you to help others to become his children.
Dear Lord, as I watch what you did through Gideon, I see that you can use the smallest and weakest people to accomplish your will. I know that you can use me, though I am certainly not worthy of that honor. I pray that you will remind me that I do not know what you are doing behind the scenes in the souls of others. It is not my job to know such things. It is my job to be faithful, to share Jesus with others, and to entrust the results to you. Lord, help me to share my faith and to see you do mighty things that I could never predict because of your great, soul-saving power.
Why Would Anyone Like the Doctrine of Election?
Juan Sanchez writes a worthwhile post about why, to him, the doctrine of sovereign election is precious. Regardless of your understanding of free will or predestination, this piece is worth a look, as it helps to see why one from the sovereignty side feels so positively about his understanding.
Hearing From God
:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ 3 Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
It seems that no matter where I go, no matter what Christian group I am speaking to, I regularly hear people telling me that God has told them one thing or another. When People invite me to preach to their group, they direct me to say “whatever the Lord leads you to say.” Whenever I hear of a person making a major decision in their lives, it is very often that they claim that “God led me” to this or that decision.
I want to preface my following
remarks. I believe that God leads his people. I believe that God communicates to us very clearly. I do not believe that we are living this life in some sort of deistic state in which God does not actively intervene. God is most certainly at work in the hearts of his people.
With that said, I am often disturbed by a person claiming that God told him or her this or that. Why does this disturb me? It most often disturbs me that people claim to have heard from God because, in most instances, their claim to have heard from God has absolutely nothing to do with the word of God. The claim to have heard from God that most people maintain is quite often a totally subjective, fuzzy, nebulous sort of thing. They feel something very strongly in their heart, and they assume that God is leading them to some particular action.
Without question, God has spoken to his people. He has spoken to us in his holy word. The Bible is living and active (Heb 4:12). The Bible gives us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3-4). The Bible is perfect, reviving our souls and changing our lives (cf. Psa 19:7-9). The Bible is God’s communication to us, telling us who God is and what God demands of us. The Bible is perfect, and its leading is trustworthy. And when a person claims to be led by God as he or she rightly interprets and applies the word of God, I have no qualms.
I do, however, struggle with a person who simply has a gut feeling, a strange dream, or a powerful notion in their mind claiming that it has come from God. Without question, God has used people who have made such claims. However, I also think that there are many, countless numbers, who have claimed to have heard from God that this event must take place or that marrying that person is definitely the right thing to do who have, upon further review, found out that they might not have heard as much from God as they thought.
When Peter defended his gospel in 2 Peter 1, he told his story. He said that he knew that his story was not made up, because he saw Jesus transfigured (cf. 2 Pet 1:16-18). However, Peter goes onto say that he has something that is more sure than his own personal experience, that being the word of the prophets, the Bible (cf. 2 Pet 1:19-ff). [Note: some translations of the Bible do not word verse 19 in such a way as to help you see this truth clearly, but the ESV handles it well and the original language certainly makes it plain that Peter is affirming that the word of the prophets is more sure than his experience.]
Ezekiel pronounced woe on those who prophesy from their own hearts. He was saying, on God’s authority, that those who claim to have heard something from God that God did not say are in big trouble. God commands those who claim to have heard from God outside of his word, “Hear the word of the Lord.” In Ezekiel’s day, that word was spoken through Ezekiel. In our day, that word of the Lord is available for us all to hear in the pages of Holy Scripture.
Ryle: Do You Pray?
This post from Pulpit Magazine is a portion of the work of J.C. Ryle. It challenges us to examine ourselves with the simple and yet piercing question, “Do you pray?” I urge you to take a look.
A Very Important Principle on Interpreting Scripture
John Piper writes a nice little post offering us a very important thing to remember when we interpret the Bible: When God commands our action, it is always God who also makes our action possible. Check it out in Piper’s words.
Good Counsel on Dealing with Negative Speech
Nathan Finn shares with us some wise thoughts from Charles Simeon on how to think and respond to negative speech.
Is It Important to Believe in the Virgin Birth?
Grudem argues that it is:
It has been common, at least in previous generations, for those who do not accept the complete truthfulness of Scripture to deny the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ. But if our beliefs are to be governed by the statements of Scripture, then we will certainly not deny this teaching. Whether or not we could discern any aspects of doctrinal importance for this teaching, we should believe it first of all simply because Scripture affirms it. Certainly such a miracle is not too hard for the God who created the universe and everything in it—anyone who affirms that a virgin birth is “impossible” is just confessing his or her own unbelief in the God of the Bible. Yet in addition to the fact that Scripture teaches the virgin birth, we can see that it is doctrinally important, and if we are to understand the biblical teaching on the person of Christ correctly, it is important that we begin with an affirmation of this doctrine.
Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1994), 532.
Prosperity Prophets (Jeremiah 23:16-18)
Jeremiah 23:16-18
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’ ”
18 For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” “Something good is going to happen to you today.” “Release your faith for your miracle from God today.” Over and over and over, phrases like these are spoken by men and women on “Christian” television and in “Christian” books. They promise people that health, wealth, and prosperity are just around the corner for those souls who will simply think positively and just let God bless them. We call these people prosperity theologians, and they are a dangerous lot.
In the days of Jeremiah the prophet, there were prosperity prophets. (I wonder if they too had bleached white teeth, cheesy accents, and over-priced yet not cool clothes.) These men wanted the people of God to like them, so they kept saying to the people that everything was good. When prophets like Jeremiah would tell people that God’s wrath was bearing down upon them because of their sin, these prosperity guys would tell the people that there was nothing to worry about, everything is under control.
Jeremiah points out that the false prophets were speaking comfort to men who despise the word of the Lord. Their comfort was false. For the man or woman who despises God’s word and his commands, there is not a pleasant future. Those who despise God’s word, who ignore God’s commands, who do not find their desire in God, the future is one of darkness and destruction. God has made it quite plain that those who are not his children are in dreadful and certain danger of facing his fury for their sin. Those who do not love him and his word are not his children. So, you can see that it is not good for a person to declare to a lost person or a person claiming Christ but with no fruit that prosperity and success awaits them.
People may wonder why I am always so hard on the prosperity guys. Here is a simple reason: they distort the gospel. They convince people that the gospel is about getting earthly blessings. They do not tell people that the center of the gospel is about the glory of God and that all people must be forgiven by grace through faith in Christ. Prosperity teachers act as though anyone who hears their voice can have any amount of money they want if they will just give a little money to that ministry. They don’t point out to people that they are in great danger before God if they do not repent of their sin and cry out for the mercy of Christ.
None of us would tolerate a doctor who always told us what we wanted to hear regardless of the truth of our sickness. Similarly, none of us should listen to or read a preacher who will tell us that everything is good without first taking us through the word of God to the cross of Christ. God promises us that he will be with his children, even if we go through terrible hardships in this life. God does not promise us that all those who give him a respectful nod of the head will automatically gain a bigger house. We need truth, not the false smiles of prosperity teachers.
Exposing Pragmatism (Jeremiah 44:15-18)
Jeremiah 44:15-18
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will no t listen to you. 17 But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. 18 But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
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Pragmatism is a dangerous thing. To be pragmatic, according to my Encarta dictionary, is to be “more concerned with practical results than with theories and principles.” You’ll run into people who are pragmatic all the time. Often, they will even sound quite noble. They will say things about how they do not want to get bogged down with a bunch of theological or philosophical discussion, they are interested in people, in reaching the lost, or in growing the church.
The problem with pragmatism is that God is concerned with the details. He is concerned with whether or not we accomplish things in a right way. And, God has shown us in his word on numerous occasions that earthly success is no sign of his favor.
In the days of Jeremiah, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive by the Babylonian empire. While many people went into exile right away, some were left in Jerusalem and its surrounding countryside. Those people who remained refused to obey God’s voice. Though God told them through Jeremiah to stay where they were and to faithfully serve the king of Babylon, the people refused to listen to God and ran away to Egypt, bringing along an unwilling Jeremiah with them.
In Egypt, Jeremiah continued to call the people of God to turn from their sin, their idolatry, and their worship of false gods. In the Scripture above, we see the response of the people. They were going to continue to worship a false goddess, the “queen of heaven.” They knew that Jeremiah was speaking to them in the name of the LORD. They knew that God forbade them to worship this false deity. Yet, the people refused to stop their false religion.
Why did the people continue to sacrifice to the “queen of heaven?” they continued to worship a false goddess because they were pragmatic. When they were worshipping this goddess, things went well. When they were trying to worship the true God, things went poorly. They looked at the two acts, measured the results, and determined to worship the deity that seemed to bring them the greater success, the greater practical benefit. In doing so, these people turned their back on the true and living God, and sold their souls to destruction in a vain hope to gain greater earthly comfort.
Is there any application of this passage for today? I think so. There are thousands of ways in which people try to judge the rightness or wrongness of their actions based on their perceived success. We mustn’t do this. We must live based on the word of God, his revelation of his will, and not based on what we see as getting the greatest results. There will be times that we, like Jeremiah, are called to be faithful to God even when everything falls to pieces around us.
Let me offer one simple illustration from today. Churches often get numbers oriented. We look at how we do ministry. Some things we do bring the numbers up. Other things we do seem to thin the ranks a little. What should we do? Do we determine what is right to do in worship based on what makes the numbers look the best? Many would say that this is exactly what we should do. In fact, many a large church has been honored for her numbers regardless of the personal growth of her membership or the depth or lack thereof in her worship services. But, one would hope that we would realize from this section of Jeremiah that numerical success is not necessarily a sign of biblical faithfulness. Sometimes faithfulness causes a decrease in attendance. Sometimes people will willingly turn their backs on the commands of God in order to receive from someone else something that they want more than to be faithful to their Creator.
Christians, let’s learn from this passage. We want, first and foremost, to be faithful to God. Sometimes that faithfulness will result in our experiencing great success and blessing in this life. Sometimes, faithfulness to God will lead us to circumstances that appear disastrous. What is important is that we remain faithful. What is important is that we honor God. What is important is that we obey him with all our hearts, trusting that he will bring the results that he desires for his glory.
Lord, you know how tempting it is for mankind to become pragmatic. We all want to succeed. We want to be blessed. We want comfort. Yet, if we allow ourselves to try to serve you pragmatically, we will be tempted by the trappings of the flesh and the world. Please help me and the church to treasure faithfulness to you above all things. Please help us to long for your name to be glorified more than for good looking results that will gain us the praise of men. Help us to know when we are following you rightly, regardless of how things appear to be turning out. Lord, if we are ever failing to follow you, please help us to see it and make the proper correction out of a desire to be faithful to you. Lord, you are who we must want. We must want you and not the things you can give us. God, help us to be faithful to you, and let us see and be satisfied by your glory.
Pastor Travis Peterson 