Brooklyn's Dad Talks About the Bible

Teachers and Preachers often take us to Romans 13 when speaking of the believer's duty to "obey" the government. But did Paul give those instructions for all men of all ages? Obviously I don't think so or I wouldn't have posed the question as such! We will compare Romans 13 with the Post-Acts instructions in 1 Timothy (as we did with Paul's instructions for marriage and child-rearing in the two ages). We speak briefly again concerning the convergence of a false Christendom and its outward revival. As we have noted, the only way for any semblance of what is called "Christian Nationalism" to emerge is for the true faith to compromise every single foundational truth. If we are looking for a revival of a Christ alone, Faith alone, Grace alone, Scripture alone we are not going to find it. And in the eagerness to obtain some fantasy of cultural and political control, all of that will be jettisoned for the sake of "unity" to achieve an unachievable goal.

Christians have historically been persecuted by those who opposed the gospel of grace (grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, Bible alone). What we may be on the cusp of is a movement of those claiming to be Evangelical Christians rising against other Evangelical Christians.   Some Christians who have the ability to discern false Christianity and a willingness to stand against it will be attacked by those who refuse to make a difference. We may see what the believers who so desperately want a political windfall put aside the very basics of the faith in order to achieve temporal goals.  The Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) world has long fallen prey to that temptation. And what makes it worse is the desire to be lauded as "loving" by openly refusing to defend the true faith.

We briefly review Vice President Vance's prayer in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy at Annunciation Catholic Church and School. As someone who attended and RC elementary school for 8 years, I can try, as best I can, to enter into the pain felt by that tight-knit community. But that does not exempt the VP from scrutiny over his words to the nation in light of God's message to mankind. We briefly look at even more "real" Catholics telling me nobody needs to listen to the pope. Finally, we examine other scriptures ripped from their contexts and revisit the basics of Bible interpretation and the essential of Right Division (2 Tim 2:15).

Another oft-quoted verse by Christians is Micah 6:8 ("what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God..."). But what about the verses around it? Why aren't churches claiming those? Well, for the same reason they ignore a lot of verses around a lot of popular "claimed" verses. On our journey, we look for positive things from the Hebrew scriptures that we CAN take comfort in. All scripture is profitable and we learn about the character of God in many places, even if we can't directly claim what is contained therein. We look at Psalm 113, Micah 6, and then wander over into this age and look at some things in the Book of Philippians.

We finish our trip through the topic of Marriage and Divorce in scripture. We do a bit of review and then move through Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 7. We discuss God's practical solution for the problem of lust and the natural desires of the flesh. God wants to provide both security and affection in a bond meant to last a lifetime. Paul also has to deal with the influx of grafted in Gentiles who may have entered the faith with an unbelieving spouse. What can we learn from this unique situation? In Israel and in the Law, no such provision is discussed. In hie mercy and grace, the Lord understands we are fallen creatures and he provides various instructions to help us walk as closely to his will as possible. We will revisit the woman at the well in John 4 and the woman taken in an act of adultery in John 8 and observe how the Lord deals with these woman and how that differs from both how the Law and Paul approach the issue.