Seventeen82

This post was originally sent to the members of Chester ARP Church as a pastoral letter written in response to the school shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, TN on March 27, 2023.   Like most of you, I watched the news in horror Monday evening as the reports came streaming in from the most recent school shooting in our country. Sadly, these kinds of reports have become all too familiar to us.    I remember standing in the lobby of Burgaw Hall on the NC State Campus as the news from Columbine High School was reported in 1999. I was shocked that someone would open fire in a school. But that was then. In the 24 years since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 15 of their classmates and injured another 24, we have seen over 350 more active shooter situations on our K-12 school and college campuses. That is staggering.    Thankfully, most of those situations have not ended in mass casualties. However, that does not mean that the collective numbers of those shooters’ victims are insi

  ​ Having spent many years in the Pentecostal world, one of my chief consternations was that damnable heresy known as the prosperity gospel. According to the precepts of that false teaching, in proportion to one’s faith, a believer could and should expect to enjoy wealth and health in this present age. Of course, the primary beneficiaries of this blasphemous teaching  were  the preachers who promoted it, as they indicated one means to demonstrate the necessary faith was by financially supporting their “ministries.” Plant that  seed  and reap that harvest, words for one to choke on. For those more orthodox and centered in Scripture, this was their constant battle.  ​ Yet,  one d anger when confronting a heresy is to develop an equally extreme and unbiblical  heresy .  So, for instance, o ne could easily fall into a vow of poverty  mindset  in confronting the prosperity gospel. The proportion of one’s faith, in this case, is indicated by one’s suffering and impoverishment. Not suffering

  Lamentations is a book that explains the experience of a suffering people trying to understand their present circumstances both historically and religiously.  Lamentations not only seeks to validly and faithfully express the grief and despondency of the exile, but attempts to understand and make sense of what happened.   ​ Israel's exilic future is seen in Moses's prophetic song (Deut. 32). This text was a reminder to the people of Israel: the pain they were experiencing was due to their violation of the terms and conditions of the Sinai covenant ( Deut  31: 19-21). What Moses foreshadows, Judah experiences. ​ If Judah were to remain faithful to God, she would experience blessing.  The beginning of Deuteronomy 28 explains that God's people would be a great nation set high above all others (Gen 12:2; Deut. 28:1) and were to be made into great nations (Gen 17:6).  By  Israel , all the earth was to be blessed (Gen 28:14; Deut. 28:2-4, 11).   Israel  was to be served by other

  “23  When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.  24  And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”  25  And he cried to the  Lord , and the  Lord  showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.” Ex. 15:23-25   Recently, I had a bad cough. To help cure it, my doctor gave me a prescription for a special pill which would immediately alleviate the cough. The problem, however, was that the second the pill touched the tongue, a horrible bitter taste filled the whole mouth. I tolerated it because I knew that it was for my good. In the Exodus, God led Israel out of Egypt by his strong hand. He saved Israel by holding back the waters and leading them through the Red Sea. But, at the same time, He judged Pharoah and Egypt by causing the waters to fall upon them.  Once on the other side, Moises and all of Israel sang songs of praise to God.    Very quickly, however,

I recently finished preaching a short series of sermons from 2 Chronicles 14-16 to begin the new year. These chapters focus on the life of King Asa of Judah, who helped bring about a reformation of true religion in the nation. King Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord (2 Chr 14:2). He continually called the people to seek the Lord (seeking after the Lord is a theme of these three chapters). When a crisis (a foreign invasion) threatened Judah, he sought the Lord in prayer (2 Chr 14:9ff). When he was confronted with the word of God from  a prophet  named  Azariah, he listened and obeyed (2 Chronicles 15:1ff). The people removed idols and renewed covenant vows. Asa even confronted a member of his own family for her idolatry (2 Chr 15:16). The people sought the Lord during Asa’s reign, and the result was that they enjoyed peace on all sides and rest from their enemies. But Asa is  also  an example of someone who  did not finish well. Near the end of his reign, when he f