Before There was Hitler, There was Haman: Gog and Magog I (part three)

First it was Hitler and Nazi Germany. Then it was Hirohito and Japan. Then it was Stalin or Kruschev and the U.S.S.R. Then it was Mao and Red China. Then is was Ida Amin and Uganda. Then it was the Ayatollah and Iran. Then it was Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Now it is. . .well, it really doesn't matter, because there will be new candidates at the time of the next world crisis, the next Middle East conflict, the next big breaking news story of the day, the next year, the next decade. Gog is the bad boy leader of the bad nation Magog, which is anybody's guess who or what and when that will all come to pass. Anybody's guess is the appropriate term, for anybody can do it so that anybody can be proven wrong.

Those who peddle their end-time books are banking (in more ways than one!) on the selective amnesia of fellow prophecy-imbibed Americans. The speculation game is not confined to Wall Street, nor is fortune telling just for the psychics and palm readers, nor is the ancient Gnostic heresy confined to the first century. Long before Michael J. Fox played the role, American religious crystal-ball gazers have been acting out Back to the Future every time a potential Armageddon explodes on the scene. Instead of reading people's lines in their hands to tell their future, eager beaver spiritual soothsayers will read between the lines in the pages of the Bible to tell us all our future. I am still waiting for the first modern-day prophecy author to step forward and offer a 100% money-back guarantee to all readers should his prognostications do not pan out. That still is a much better arrangement than the Old Testament method of dealing with self-professed prophecy authorities whose predictions did not come true.

But all the above does not matter, because we are so forgiving or forgetful when our favorite authors or preachers make the same mistake time and time again in their predictions. We wouldn't trust our cars to a mistaken-prone automotive mechanic, and we certainly wouldn't hand our bodies over to a clumsy physician, yet we freely turn our minds over to people who are sloppy with the Word for their own monetary gratification. We gobble up their latest end-time books quicker than we can say "sure-fire bestseller", and we soak in every word they say in person or in print without once giving any thought about being a Berean Christian (Acts 17:11) We don't need to check out the Word diligently to see if what Bro. So and So is saying is true about Iran, Israel, the European Union, the United Nations, the USA, China, et.al; all we need to do is check out the latest headlines of the day. Newspaper exegesis takes much less effort than biblical exegesis after all.

The early Gnostics believed that they were the "spiritual elite" who could discern and understand the deeper things of God that the average person could not. They had the key to seeing things that others could not see, and those who could not see stood amazed with bulging eyes and dropped jaws at those who could see. The elite have the charts and diagrams and can bring things out of Scripture things that are not clearly seen by the average Bible reader. And who says that Gnosticism is an ancient heresy that has been buried once and for all? In the realm of eschatology, it seems that Gnosticism is alive and well, and we seem to be content and happy with that. The apostle Paul in Colossians was anything but happy and content as he wrote about the dangers of any type of secretive inside knowledge that only a handful could decipher, where the rest of us ignoramuses were at the mercy of these elitists.

Now when it comes to interpreting Ezekiel 38 and 39, what does every popular error-prone prophecy expert have in common? They all see these two chapters having a modern-day fulfillment; in other words, they are yet to be fulfilled. That opens the speculative can of worms, and those worms crawl out in every possible direction. Worms make good bait for fishing, but herein lies the problem. Many people see prophecy as nothing more than a fishing expedition rather than a rigorous study in biblical theology.

We should all agree that prophecy is about the future. No argument there. Prophecy is not prophecy if it is telling about the past--that's providential history that has been made. Prophecy is about providential history in the making. But why do we think that all prophecy in Scripture, or most prophecy in Scripture, or even much prophecy in Scripture is about our future? Why can't it be about the future of the people to whom the Bible was originally written? In other words, why can't prophecy be about events and people that lived back then in the Bible times and were fulfilled in events and people back then?

In fact, going back to previous blog articles, that point has been made pretty persuasively when one considers the overwhelming biblical evidence. There were numerous prophecies made in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the Old Testament, some of them in their near future, and some in their distant future. Other prophecies made in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the person of Christ and in the days of the New Testament. Scores of prophecies in the New Testament were fulfilled in the days of the first century.

So, here is the crux of the matter. Why can't the prophecies about Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39 have already been fulfilled sometime during the Old Testament? Why do we naturally assume that they have to be about something that is yet to be fulfilled, unless of course it might throw a monkey wrench in all our preconceived notions, cause us to toss out books and tear up notes, put an end to the speculation game, and therefore be a monetary fiasco for all those who profit from being a prophet? Outside of those few insignificant things, I can't think of many reasons why anybody would balk at the suggestion that Ezekiel 38 and 39 be already fulfilled in our past, yet it was fulfilled in other people's future.

My thesis is simply this--Gog and Magog were about people and events in Ezekiel's and his contemporaries' future. They were not about things yet to occur in our future. For me to come to that conclusion, I better have the facts with which to back it up. As in real estate, location is everything. Location, location, location. In biblical interpretation, location is everything. Context, context, context. There are thirty-seven chapters in Ezekiel before we get to chapter 38 and 39. Might it be a wise idea for us to study chapters 38 and 39 in its location? To think that Ezekiel all of a sudden in chapters 38 and 39 talks about something that is totally disconnected with what he says prior to those chapters is totally baffling, and it is being totally reckless with Scripture. Location, location, location. Context, context, context.

Ezekiel lived during the time of the downfall of Jerusalem when people's hopes were crushed beyond measure. To the Jew, it was far worse than our 9/11. We still had a nation after that fateful day. There was no nation and there was no temple after 586 B.C. when the Babylonian terrorists wrecked havoc and destruction upon the southern kingdom of Judah and precious Jerusalem. You can only understnad and appreciate Ezekiel when you put it in context. In chapters 36 on, the prophet turns the corner and begins to preach almost exclusively about the good news that was lying ahead of his people in the immediate future, his future and not ours. It would have no meaning whatsoever to the people back then if Ezekiel all of a sudden started talking about a future prosperity and blessing to come Israel's way in 1948 and on, for example. Tell me, exactly how would that bit of news encourage a distraught people back then, some 2500 years before modern-day Israel became a sovereign state?

In previous chapters, God through Ezekiel told about His judgment that had come not only upon Israel in 586 B.C. and since, but also upon Israel's neighboring nations. In chapters twenty-five and following, we find prophecies and pronounced judgments against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, Egypt, Assyria, Elam, and Edom. Those were nations in Ezekiel's day and not in our day to whom God was preaching and referring. In chapter thirty-three then, God turns His attention back to His own chosen people where He explains again why Jerusalem back then, not the Jerusalem of today, was struck by God's hand of judgment. In chapter thirty-four, He rebukes the worthless shepherds, the leaders of God's people back then prior to Jerusalem's fall, and not the Prime Minister nor the Knesset of modern day Israel. He then says that blessings are about to come Israel's way again, the Israel of then and not the Israel of today. That is the focus of chapters thirty-four and thirty-six.

In chapter thirty-seven, we have that famous vision of the valley of dry bones, bones that came alive when flesh enveloped them and the breath of God revived them. After 586 B.C., Israel saw itself without any hope, just a pile of dead bones, with no chance of being back in the Promised Land with God's favor on them again. What is impossible with man is possible with God. God would bring the dead Israelites back to the land and restore them to Himself. He would breathe new life in them.

At the end of the chapter, the vision ends on a teaching point--God would reunite all displaced Israelites, whether from the northern kingdom or the southern kingdom, into one nation, and they will no longer be two kingdoms as was the case post-Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem. That was the purpose behind the two sticks of v.16 on becoming ONE stick in God's hand. That has all happened when Jerusalem and the Temple were rebuilt in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. It was ONE nation under God. None of those prophecies are in our future, any more than the birth and crucifixion of Jesus are in our future. Context, context, context.

All this brings us to the next two chapters of thirty-eight and thirty-nine. What gives us the right to leapfrog over 2500 years of history all of a sudden and think that God is now going to talk about something that is not going to have any effect upon any of the Israelites during Ezekiel's day, especially when everything He has said up to this point is about the Israelites of that day? Do we have God saying now from chapter thirty-eight to the end of the book things that do not concern at all the Jews in that time period? In essence, could God have been saying now, "Okay, you Jews, you can doze off now and not pay any attention to what I am about to say, because nothing now is going to occur in your lifetime and immediate future"? That is so incredulous, and it violates the cardinal rule of interpretation of context, context, context.

Even if that is not convincing enough, there is much, much more to come. A verse-by-verse study of these two chapters reveals some hefty arguments in favor of the Gog and Magog of Ezekiel as having already been fulfilled. (As a teaser, this is not to say that there will not be another Gog and Magog--as there was a World War I and later a World War II, there is a Gog and Magog I and a much later Gog and Magog II--which seems to be the case from Revelation 20:8-10.) What are the internals of these two chapters that tilt heavily in the direction of an immediate fulfillment from the time of Ezekiel's time period? That will be the focus of our next blog article, Lord willing, in my immediate future.

Yours in Christ,

Chris

Will You Love Jesus After the Cheers Die Down?

Summer is winding down, the vacations are mostly over, school is about to start, and that means also one other thing--summer church camps have all been wrapped up by now.

Before anyone accuses me of being down on all summer church camps, let me say at the outset that I have nothing against the concept of summer camps for children, youth and families. I refuse to be a killjoy and one who thinks a good, recreational time is "downright siiiiiinnnnful." I have been a camper as a youth, a college student and as an adult. I have gone to summer camps as a sponsor. My four daughters go to a church camp every year. My oldest daughter goes as a counselor now. In fact, most of them have been to camps in two or three different states. I am not starting a "ban the church camp" movement.

Children and youth can swim; play softball, volleyball, table tennis, pool, or darts; go fishing, kayaking, canoeing, shoot with bows and arrows (so long they aim at non-human targets); and do a host of other things that all children like to do.

The kind of church camps I prefer are those that have all the above fun activities, but they are also small and Bible-driven. Small, because with bigger crowds come bigger issues and bigger control problems. This goes against the grain of thinking that bigger is always better, but I know from personal experience that bigger can mean bigger headaches. Often goes unreported at these larger camps are all kinds of sexual misconduct, because if the word gets out what really goes on there, donations may dry up or heads will roll or a certain well-maintained prestigious reputation is damaged.

The lady who cuts my hair is a 70 year old plus Church of Christ lady. I have always heard that bartenders and hairdressers hear and know everything. I don't know about bartenders, but I do know it to be the case about hairdressers. People will often confide in them before they confide in anyone else. This lady has more than once come to the aid of my mom, now deceased, when this lady told me some things I needed to know about my mom, who was afraid to tell me but told this hairdresser friend instead.

Recently this lady, when she was cutting what little hair I have left, told me something that was not news to me. She said, "Chris, you would not believe all the stories I have heard over the years of girls who have lost their virginity at __________ (she named the camp)." The expression "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" should not be applied at any time to camps that identify themselves as Christian.

I am not saying that no bad things can happen or will happen at a smaller church camp setting (the human flesh is what it is), and I am not saying that nothing but bad things happen at bigger camps, but what I am saying is that the likelihood of things getting out of hand can occur with greater frequency at bigger summer church camps where there is more free time and much less supervision.

I also want a camp to be Bible-driven, rooted in good, solid theology. I just happen to believe that EVERYTHING the church is about should be based on sound doctrine. I can't find anywhere in Scripture that gives us the license to do anything for anybody in the church at anytime that is anything less than Bible-centered. If children and youth can learn biology, chemistry, algebra, trig and world history at school, then why can't they learn theology even at a church camp? Why give them milk when they should be able to eat meat? Why do we shortchange our children at church and at camp? Now we can make Bible and theology understandable on their level, and all of that does not have to be boring either.

I want the Bible taught and preached to my daughters when they go to camp, and that happens every year in our case. They memorize Scripture, they hear mission stories, they have regular devotions, and I love it all. Have fun activities, but also be serious about God and His Word.

If you really want to see, though, a good reflection of where contemporary American Christianity is, all you need to do is attend a summer youth church camp. In many cases I would venture to guess it is heavy on the music, light on any biblical teaching/preaching, major on the fun stuff, and get kids worked up in an emotional frenzy. Church camp is an extension of church life after all.

One year I talked a good friend, a parent of some youth in our church, into attending church camp as a sponsor. He was blown away by what he witnessed first hand. This friend had his eyes opened in a big time way. (As pastor of that church over 18 years ago, I had no choice but to be there at camp for some of the week. I began to dread it each year.) On one occasion, right before the main evening service was to begin, they were playing music videos on the big screens. I was reading my Bible and not watching the music videos, because to put it plainly, there were many things in those videos that young people or anybody should not be viewing, especially at a Christian camp. He came up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and asked me if I was watching the music videos. I told him I wasn't, and he in disgust said there were many sexually suggestive things going in those videos. I told him simply, "______ (his name), welcome to ____________ (name of church camp)."

Later on that week he and I had a good talk about other things, and he said to me that he figured out why there was a majority of "decisions" made during the altar call on Thursday night of camp week. From everything I had heard, over 75% of all decisions that are made that week from morning and evening services are made during the Thursday night service on a consistent basis every year. He told me that by Thursday the kids are all worn down physically and emotionally from a fun-packed week that they are simply putty in the hands of any effective presentation, no matter if it were biblically on target on not.

As sponsor during one week one summer, I had to counsel some of those who came forward during the invitation altar call. Every pastor who was back there doing just that were fit to be tied, because in nearly every case the children had no idea why they came forward. The speaker did not use the Bible in his sermon, but instead told one scary or funny story after another. We were being told in the back room by the authorities of this camp that we had to get the names of all those children down on a card, so they can get reported as being saved during the week. The total number of decisions would be impressive for wide-scale publication purposes.

One pastor in the state who preached at a summer youth camp one time told a group of us pastors that the lodge where he stayed on the campgrounds was the lodge regularly used by the guest preacher for the week. On the inside of the door was a chart that had the number of decisions posted for the previous weeks. He said the subtle message was "you got to match last weeks' results at least, or beat them preferably."

It does not matter if a camp is small or big in this case. If a summer church camp relies on "decisionism" evangelism, then it will pull every rabbit out of the hat to get kids to make a decision, even if the children have no idea what is going on, nor can they explain it 30 minutes later to anybody else what they have done, let alone have any fruit to show for it just 30 days later. But we are told all that does not matter that much, since the number of decisions is what matters most.

Jesus told us to make disciples not make decisions, though. It's amazing how the early church did it without our methodologies--just imagine, we might foolishly think, if Jesus and the apostles had at their disposal such things as extended altar calls, "we love Jesus, yes, we do; we love Jesus, how about you?" rah-rah sessions, repeat-after-me "sinner's prayers", and other psychological ploys.

It is easy to get people worked up, and that is clearly evidenced at a football game, a music concert, a political rally, or a highly-charged summer youth camp. All it takes is a leader with some imaginative charisma, and there is no telling what a crowd will do. Mob psychology can do all sorts of wonders.

But there is a huge difference between getting people WORKED UP, and Philippians 2:12-13, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who WORKS IN you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

Jesus never said that you will know the true disciples by how loud they can cheer in a mob situation, but you will know them by their fruit. 1 John says over and over again that the way we tell who are those who are truly regenerated, born of God, is by such things as loving the brothers, loving God, obeying His commands, living the Christian life day in and day out. Walking an aisle, filling out a card, repeating a canned prayer, saying "I love Jesus yes I do" at the top of one's lungs, physically nailing your name on a cross, or any other regular camp ritual simply did not make the cut in the list of 1 John identifiable features of a born again person.

Jesus warned and scolded the Pharisees in their outreach methodologies of making their converts "twice the sons of hell." (Matthew 23:15) Once the son of hell by nature they are children of wrath, which all of us were at one time, and twice, by giving them false assurance they are all right with God simply because they did A, B and C. At church on Sundays or at summer youth camps or at other events, if we are not Bible-driven, we can be guilty of the same as the Pharisees. We can not shake this off as some insignificant matter. It is never the right thing to try to usurp the role of the Holy Spirit, either in conviction of sin (John 16:8) by getting people to make decisions with high-pressured or emotionally-charged tactics or later in giving these same people an assurance of their salvation (Romans 8:16) by telling folks they are saved simply because they did our prescribed A, B and C.

We can do our prescribed A, B and C, and God grades us with an F, because only the Holy Spirit can bring conviction of sin (a necessity for every person's conversion) and assurance of salvation (a necessity for every person's sanctification).

My daughters have been after me for the longest to find them a biblically solid devotional workbook they can use in their daily Bible reading. I have called around and asked the experts in the publishing field, and there are none of those workbooks to be found, at least what my girls are looking for.

If I could write one myself, not just for my girls, but for all the post-summer campers at every church camp everywhere, I at least know the title I would use--Will You Love Jesus After the Cheers Die Down?

One of my instructors at seminary put it this way: It is not how high you jump that counts, but how straight you walk after you hit the ground.

Yours in Christ,

Chris

mormon.org/stillacult

We interrupt our normal scheduled programming on Gog and Magog to bring you a special late breaking news item: In spite of a recent slick advertising campaign on radio and TV, Mormonism is still a cult.

While driving one day in between jobs, I first heard this latest Mormon advertising blitz on the radio. One immediately after another I heard brief testimonials or stories of people from different walks of life, and each person ended with a statement like "I'm Joe, and I'm a Mormon." (mormon.org/joe) Up until that last word, one could not tell what the commercial spot was all about. Then I saw the commercials on TV. They were all very well done from a professional marketing standpoint.

All of them were low-key with no mention of anything Mormon until the very end. One person is a person in hip-hop, another is a skateboarder, but the one I "like" the best is a man who is riding a motorcycle, and he is telling about the importance of his family. He says he can find nothing in the Bible that says one can not ride a motorcycle, and he loves to have dinner conversations with people who disagree with him over religion. In fact, he says he loves to have friends who pray to a different god than he prays to, and that is all very cool with him. Postmodernism has found its way into Mormonism.

When those commercials came on TV a couple of days ago and my wife saw them for the first time, her first remark to me was "Now what are we Christians going to do?" The more I thought about her question, it seems to me that a huge segment of evangelical Christianity has already done a whole lot. We have taught Mormons well. After all, who has championed and perfected the idea that in order to attract people to our churches we need to downplay what we believe, mention very little if anything about the scriptures, keep everything so fluffy, light and positive, highlight instead people's "felt needs" and personal stories, and throw in some postmodern psychobabble dribble to make it more palatable for the average American spiritual diet?

Upon further reflection, I have concluded also that Mormons have evolved (and that is a good word to use, since Elohim evolved from a man to a god, and we can evolve into gods one day ourselves) in their public relations and outreach strategy. In the former days, the Mormon church had all sorts of commercials and advertisements that would show a clean-cut close-knit Mormon family gathered in the family room of their home for Monday evening worship time. At the end of the commercial would be a picture of the Book of Mormon and an 800 number one could call to get a free copy sent to you. The Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ, which means the Bible is incomplete without the addition of the Book of Mormon.

When is the last time when anyone has seen a commercial spot that is promoting the Book of Mormon? Even better than that question, when is the last time the Mormon church has even mentioned anything about the Book of Mormon in a national advertising campaign? It's been a loooong time. Why is that? Could it be that through the efforts of so many faithful Christian apologists and those who have researched cults well, as well as the work of former Mormons themselves, the Book of Mormon has fallen on hard times, either in reality or in people's perception, regarding its fraudulent claims?

Joseph Smith and his theological heirs have always stated that the Book of Mormon is "the most perfect revelation" given to man. The Holy Bible can not be trusted because it has so many man-made errors in it, so says the Mormon hierarchy. However, it has come to light that over 3000 revisions have been made in the Book of Mormon since Mr. Smith found those golden tablets in New York. So much then for it being the most perfect revelation given to man. You do not need to know a whole lot about the Book of Mormon to carry on a brief intelligent dialogue with a Mormon missionary who comes knocking at your door. Ask the young Mormon to take the Book of Mormon in his possession, ask him to flip to the very back, and then ask him to try to find any maps. He can't do it, because, unlike most of our Bibles which have plenty of maps at the very back, there are no maps in the Book of Mormon. If the Book of Mormon is so perfect, then why can't they find any cities or places cited in the book to put on a map for us to find through geographical, historical and archaeological research and verification? The Bible can do what the Book of Mormon can never do; case closed.

So, the Mormon church realized over time they had a public relations problem with the Book they so cherished and still do. They made a tactical decision to hide the Book of Mormon, and not talk about it so openly. Instead, their next batch of national advertising campaigns featured not the Book of Mormon, but the King James Version Bible, which you could get free by calling the 800 number on the TV screen. Of course, once they get your address, then expect to have some Mormons calling on you at your house someday in the near future.

This approach is also part of their overall philosophy that makes the cult of Mormonism different from most other cults. The Mormon church has always wanted to be received by people as being part and parcel of mainstream Christianity. They don't want to be seen or regarded as fruitcakes or oddballs. Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, do not want anything to do with mainstream Christianity. When is the last time you heard of a Jehovah's Witness running for office or holding down an elected or appointed office, having a nationally syndicated radio talk show, being a sports figure, writing best-selling books, or being a celebrity in the music, movie or TV industry?

It is alarming, for example, how many of the contestants on the pop culture hits, American Idol and America's Got Talent, are active Mormons, which all go back to the days of the Osmond Brothers, who did so much in recruiting young people back then to join the Mormon church. Any collegiate football fan knows that when his team plays Brigham Young University in football or basketball that his team will be going up against players that are two to three years older, because the Mormon church requires two years of missionary service for all of its young men.

The Book of Mormon had a way of saying that Mormonism is not so much mainstream Christianity after all in the minds of people, but what can be more mainstream than a King James Version Bible? But times have changed, and so even the KJV Bible has to be shelved by the Mormon church in its next round of national advertising. This brings us to where we are today with this new crop of TV and radio commercials, which play right into the hands of a feel-good, religiously tolerant, anti-absolutism, postmodern society.

Subjectivism is the big selling point in these commercial spots. Notice that in each case by each person's different testimonial in these commercials, it is all about how that person lives his or her life, and the insinuation is that he or she has a good life because he or she is a Mormon, and look at all the things you can achieve and be in your life and being a Mormon can help you. Nowhere is it about, "What is the truth?" Nowhere is anything of a Mormon doctrine taught, nowhere is a scripture quoted even from the KJV Bible, nowhere is objective truth a standard for judging what is right or wrong. The commercials are all about helping you and me become better people by reaching our potential, and that's what religion is all about now anyway, right? If you don't believe me, just take a casual stroll through your Christian bookstore and see what kind of books are bestsellers and see how few if any are of any deep biblical substance.

The Mormon missionary will eventually challenge someone to read the Book of Mormon, because by reading it one will get an inward "burning sensation" that it is really true. It is true because we feel it to be true. That is subjectivism in a nutshell. I asked a Mormon missionary once how can I know if the burning sensation is not just indigestion or something else. I would hate to make a monumental decision in my life based upon what I ate for supper.

Is not much of evangelical Christianity subjectivism? Our young people are certainly not being taught biblical doctrine for the most part. There is not enough time to do that in between the trips to amusement parks, pizza parties and other entertaining outings. Look at churches' web sites, billboards, hand flyers, or other advertisements, and see if subjectivism does not reign supreme in so many cases. "Come to _____________Church because this is what we offer for your children, look at all we have going on for your family, see all the programs and activities we have, hear our music, etc., etc." We object to objective truth, and we subject ourselves to subjectivism wherever we turn. If we get to the Bible, it may be more along the lines, "What does this Scripture mean to you?" We are as good as hiding the Bible or whispering it beneath our breath as the Mormons are about the Book of Mormon.

So, yes, we have taught the Mormons well. That is what much of evangelical Christianity has done about this recent round of Mormon commercials.

Mormonism is still a cult, a heresy, started by Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light. It is a shame that the Mormon church can follow our example in its newest, clever, subjective, postmodern outreach by disguising itself even more.

These latest Mormon commercials say hardly anything at all about the Mormon church, but they say a whole lot about us.

Yours in Christ,

Chris