AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM IS A MENTAL GHETTO--Part III Some Folks Who Profit By Keeping You Uninformed

SO, DO I REALLY THINK THERE ARE EVANGELICAL INSTITUTIONS AND LEADERS WHO WANT TO KEEP YOU STUPID?



YOU BET I DO!

If you recall Parts I and II a mental ghetto is a place where folks stay uninformed because it's easier to stay stupid than to put in the mental work to study. As long as no one in the ghetto becomes informed, then the rest are happy. They haven't been shown up. And some outside the ghetto actually are ecstatic that Evangelicals stay uninformed because they get power and money on the backs of the folks in the ghetto.

BAUBLES AND BIBLES.

Recently, ads have appeared on television for the "Prayer Cross". It's actually sold as a "spiritual accessory" here. Like the TV ad, the website has a narration. Music starts and the deep-voiced representative says, "'Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name...' These words begin one of the most important prayers in all of Christianity. And now this very special prayer can always be kept close to your heart with the Prayer Cross from the Montibello Collections. This one of a kind cross features a secret center stone which, when held up to the light, reveals the entire Lord's Prayer, right before your eyes. Watch as people gaze in amazement as they experience the magic of the Prayer Cross for the first time. Each Prayer Cross is hand crafted, using genuine Austrian crystal and solid sterling silver, creating not only a magnificent piece of jewelry, but a one of a kind spiritual accessory. When held up to the light, the entire Lord's Prayer becomes instantly and almost miraculously visible..."

Stop rubbing your eyes; you saw right. "Spiritual accessory".

Now lest you think the Prayer Cross is a fake--don't worry. Each one comes with a certificate of authenticity, certifying, I suppose, that the folks selling it to you certify it.


Yee haw.

"Austrian crystal" is nothing more than a particular type of Rhinestone, but some of the suckers listening don't know that. And that's what counts.

Few who read this would fall for such a pitch, but the truth is some ME institutions count on you not knowing all sorts of things. Think I'm kidding? Did you know that Wheaton College, a citadel of orthodox Evangelicalism for decades, recently had a number of pro-homosexuality speakers. I'll save that for Part IV on Wednesday, though. And don't worry. I'll provide documentation, too.

Back to the more mundane, though. When was the last time you took wifey and the munchkins down to the local "Christian" book store for Bibles, baubles, and bunches of really cool t-shirts that will be a "witness"? (Are there laws against spiritual child-abuse?) Thanks to all the LIPS (liars in pulpits) most think there is such a thing as life-style evangelism which actually saves folks without us having to actually say the gospel and get laughed at as though we were some sort of stinking fundamentalist scum. So, we get our favorite rap or rock "Christian" group on a t-shirt and that means we're active in Evangelism. Never mind the fact that we only wear it to church. And only to youth group. And Dad gets a chrome-covered plastic fish, peels the protective paper off the stickum, puts it on the back of the car, careful to place it high enough on the back so the pastor notices and low enough so the neighbors don't.

PROPHETS OR PROFITS?

In Part II, I discussed some of the money tossed around in Corporate Christianity, especially the religious publishing world. There are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. Selling lots and lots of books is success. Selling true books is optional. Something I didn't realize until recently, is that many of the books in your corner religious book store aren't even written by the authors the publishers claim they are. Ghostwriters are common in religious publishing. (1)

So what does this have to do with the Mental Ghetto? It's a demonstration that the ignorance of just one biblical doctrine can be exploited by the ghetto enablers. In this case the forgotten doctrine is the sufficiency of Scripture. According to the apostle Paul, the Bible is all that's needed for the Christian life to be lived and taught to others. II Timothy 3:16-17. We've forgotten that, though. And now many religionists feel they must read the latest book from the religious publishers to stay hip--cutting edge. As a result there is a demand for new books from the biggest names in the ME world. But they're all busy doing conferences, speaking, and writing other books as well. So that the publishers can publish more and so the big names can make money without much work, no-name writers are hired and folks like D. James Kennedy, Billy Graham, and Gary Smalley put their names on them. (1) That's right, if you go and buy a book at the store by Billy Graham, it may be a complete lie, written by someone who may or may not have had some good ideas, but didn't have the name to sell. If you knew a book was written by it's real author, you may have passed on it, but it said it was written by a celebrity and you thought you were reading Billy Graham.

Like that?

This is such a plague one can actually google "Christian ghostwriters" and get folks selling their services. (I wonder if they have a red light in their window at night.) One religious ghostwriter actually advertizes that she has a degree in spiritual formation from Wheaton College. Yes, she has an education in new age spiritualism from a known ME institution and is willing to be paid to lie on a national scale, in print. (2) Last year a ghostwriter was honored as the Holy Ghostwriter" by Christianity Today. (3) This seems to be the state of "Christianity" today.

At least the ME version.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.
(1) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_30_16/ai_64426330
(2) http://www.inspirationalghostwriting.com/ghostwriters.htm
(3) http://www.christianitytoday.com/tc/2007/003/6.14.html

BLESSED NEWS--I guess.

This is really great news. I've recently noticed that when I leave comments on some blogs they get saved right away. FANTASTIC!!!! The thing that worries me, though, is that they never seem to progress. They never get sanctified or baptized. No progressive sanctification.

Pray for my comments. I think they're carnal. Maybe they just prayed the prayer but weren't really sincere.

Hoping,
Phil Perkins.

AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM IS A MENTAL GHETTO--Part II Some Causes

This post is now complete, but the Mental Ghetto series will now have four parts, not three. I hope you get REALLY, REALLY angry.

The last time we discussed this issue I said that a ghetto is a place where lots of poor folk live because it's easier to stay poor than to get a job and because there are some in our society who enable folks to remain poor. Likewise, the mental ghetto is possible because of the laziness of its occupants and because a group of enablers outside the ghetto get something out of others being stupid.

IN THE GHETTO.

Enablers always get something out of enabling others. (They don't do it jusscuz.) The biggest losers are the enabled. Political enablers are bureaucrats who get paid to pass tax-payer money to those who never hold a job, workers who maintain the free housing, contractors who build the projects, landlords who get money from the government, and political figures who make a living out of the power they get by appealing to the foulest characteristics of man. "Hate those outside the ghetto because they have more than you and, after all, they put you in here," say the ghetto pimps. Then morality goes upside down. Those in the ghetto become romantic figures, while working folk are suspect.

The mental ghetto is the same. We are often too lazy to do the hard work of Bible study. We can feel bad about that or we can hear a sermon on "Knowledge puffs up." The preachers, youth leaders, and conference speakers who denigrate the biblically literate are the ghetto pimps. They get approval by telling the occupants that they're spiritual and good and godly, even though they have been in the church for years, but still haven't read the Bible through even once. They couldn't come up with a dozen memory verses to save their souls (ironic) and they couldn't lead a person through the gospel without a concordance or a very colorful tract. And if the ghetto preacher is nice enough to them, assuring them that they are the spiritual ones even though they can't find the minor prophets, they drop a buck in his offering plate, go to his conference, buy his music, attend his concerts and pay his way to the major profits. And if someone actually tries to tell ghetto occupants something from the Bible that doesn't square with ME (Modern Evangelical) bromides and sayings, then he's obviously unloving and knows too much. It's his fault, not theirs.

NO BEREANS ALLOWED--A wink and a nod.

While all this happens, no one quite explains just how all those quiet folks outside the financial ghetto, raising kids, working jobs, and paying taxes actually forced all the ghetto occupants into the ghetto. But that doesn't matter. The belief itself performs a function so vital to the existence of the ghetto that it must never be questioned. Both ghettos are philosophically justified with a set of assumptions that are preposterous to everyone who cares to think, but neither set of assumptions can be examined. If that's ever done, the occupants will be faced with their own guilt and either change or admit that they simply like their vices more than they hate their conditions.

The preacher/pimp in the mental ghetto needs these lies to remain in tact for his own reasons, too. He gets paid two ways. First, the externals are paid. The preacher/pimp gets paid money and a certain amount of power and recognition. But there's another, more subtle payment the preacher gets. The stupider the ghetto occupants stay the less likely it is that his surfs will recognize the sins in his life. That's one of the reasons for the scandals in the ME "church", not the least of which is the scandal of laziness in the study and pablum in the pulpit. His laziness, lust, greed (and whatever else) is enabled by the laziness of those around him as long as they remain in the ghetto. If the pimp is a musician, he doesn't have to come up with biblical lyrics. Sappy will do just fine. The adult Sunday School teacher can simply read from the quarterly, asking questions like, "So, Brother Frank, what do YOU think the word 'the' means here?" In this way the teacher attempts to make those in the class think he knows something about the topic of the lesson, or maybe just that he actually cares what it says. He doesn't. And his hearers know that. But the ploy makes the class able to kid themselves that they are actually learning something and further kid themselves that their teacher isn't lazy and unfit to teach. It's an unspoken agreement to lie to themselves and each other.

Feel abused yet? Wait until you see what "Christian" businesses are doing to you!

HEY, $TUPID! "Christian" corporate pimpery.

It's not just dime store stuff. It's not just your pastor. The mental ghetto is big business. Here on my desk I have a flyer that came in the mail from Berean Christian Stores. I just opened up ONE PAGE AT RANDOM as I type. On that page I find seven Bibles for sale and nine other books. Of the nine books, I can recognize the names of all the authors. Of the nine books, at least one is written by a heretic who suggests we follow quite a number of mystics and study the Bible less. Three of the books are written by authors who only produce fluff--feel-good and self-help books. Four of the books are written by folks whom I don't know much about. The previous page has six books. The first is by Rob Bell, who wants to re-imagine Christianity and pushes meditative breathing to find God. One is written by a man who is nationally famous and denies the trinity. A third is written by a nationally-known pastor who was separated from his wife and later divorced, all the while remaining in the pulpit.

Berean Christian Stores took in just over 600 MILLION DOLLARS in 2001.(1) Having been in their stores, my guess is that at least 2/3 of their book business is either fluff or outright heresy. If it's only 1/4, that means that if Evangelicals left the ghetto, Berean Christian Stores would lose 150 million dolars a year.

Do you really think they'll sell books that will educate you?

Zondervan has been in the vanguard of publishing the Emergent heresy. Zondervan revenues are about 160 MILLION. They are the publishers of the gender-altered TNIV "bible". Zondervan is a wholly owned subsidiary of HarperCollins, a secular publisher and sold 15 MILLION copies of The Purpose Driven Life in one year alone.(2) The book twists Scripture and advocates the study of mystics like Thomas Merton. Can you imagine the collapse that would occur at Zondervan if the average Evangelical suddenly would no longer put up with such sinful things? Zondervan has at times accounted for 15% of sales for HarperCollins.(2)

HarperCollins doesn't need smart Christians. They need Christians who buy their books.

Think it through,
Phil Perkins.

FOOTNOTES:

1. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Standex-International-Corporation-Company-History.html

2. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Zondervan-Corporation-Company-History.html

STIILL TO COME IN THE MENTAL GHETTO

Part III. The Extent of the Problem.

Part IV. Why You Should Stop Having Devotions.

A CHALLENGE FOR MODERN EVANGELICALS

If you're an ME (Modern Evangelical) I'd like to challenge you to do something. Here it is; see if you can actually do it:

Sit down at a table with a pen and a tablet that will fit in your pocket. List all the churchy sayings you and your friends say to each other and that you hear your pastor say over and over. After you've written down every religious saying or bit of wisdom you think you hear and say at church or Bible study, close up the tablet and put it in your pocket. Keep it there for at least a week because as days go by and you listen to ME radio or watch ME TV, you'll hear some you forgot or simply remember some old ones. Write them in the tablet, too. Be sure to take your sayings tablet to church and Bible study at least once and write every saying down. EVERY one. "God helps those who help themselves." "Who are you to judge?" "Make the gospel relevant." "God loves a cheerful giver." "God doesn't want any of His children poor or sick." "Love them into the Kingdom." "Lifestyle evangelism." "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." "The Pharisees were too into following everything the Bible says." "Doctrine isn't important." "Jesus is too much of a gentleman to make you repent." "God doesn't hate anybody." "Hate the sin; love the sinner." "God doesn't send anybody to hell." "Don't preach to people." "Pray this prayer to be saved..." "God wants me happy." "Accept God." "Plant a seed offering."

When you're satisfied you have them all, sit down again. Look up each saying in a concordance or a topical Bible. If you can’t find them, what does that tell you? It tells you they probably aren’t in the Bible, doesn’t it? Drop them and never say them again. Replace them with Bible verses and partial verses. If you do find one of your old sayings, like “Don’t judge”, read the entire chapter where you found it. It might not mean what you thought it did. If you find one in the Bible and it really means what you thought it meant, GREAT! Keep it. You're good. Read enough Bible regularly that you get new Bible verses all the time to replace the old sayings as they drop away and don’t try to remember all of them. That’s not the point. Just keep doing this. You will begin to change. You will see the world through brand new eyes, eyes filled with the Spirit of God.

In a very short time you will be amazed at just how silly some of the things you used to say were. Then start reading the Bible over and over and over. Read it through at least once a year. Anything less puts you in danger.

It'll change your life. God promises that, you know.

I’m serious.
Phil.

STILL TO COME: Parts II and III of AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM IS A MENTAL GHETTO.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK--December 3, 2008

Biblical faith isn't a parlor trick, a Rod Serling skit, or the result of repeating verses of "Just As I Am". It's based on the objective truth of a God Who acts in space-time. And those acts are attested by witnesses. That's why we believe the Bible.

AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM IS A MENTAL GHETTO--Part I

Is your church a mental ghetto? If you attend an Evangelical "church", you almost certainly attend a mental ghetto.

Insulted? Let me explain what a ghetto is. A ghetto is a place where lots of poor people live together because it's easier to simply stay poor than to clean up, do job interviews, take a job, and get out of the ghetto. And it's all made possible because the government will pay you to stay poor. Similarly, Evangelicals are biblically illiterate because it's easier to stay stupid than to do the hard work of study. And the pastors are like the government enablers who keep our ghettos populated. Instead of teaching the Bible in depth, it's easier to give emotion-packed, feel-good pablum, than to actually spend hour upon hour alone in the study. And it's easier to let the folks go along in mediocrity than to force them to learn about the God they claim to love but don't even know. If I get a welfare check why work? Just the same, if my pastor and "church" accept my biblical ignorance as par for the course, why study?

Turn on the TV and order a pizza.

Let me give you an example of what I mean by the mental ghetto. This was found on one of the blogs on my blogroll. It is by a "Zac Poonen", a prominent Evangelical preacher. Here it is: "The gift of 'tongues' was a perfect gift. God has not changed His mind about the gift, for He never changes."

That was his argument against the idea that the gift of tongues isn't for today--because God never changes. This is juvenile. Of course God doesn't change, but that doesn't mean He never changes the way he deals with men. For instance, we aren't under the Old Covenant. (And I believe that biblical tongues could happen today.) He went on to claim that Acts 2 was the first time believers were filled with the Spirit, evidently unaware of Exodus 31, Samson, and John the Baptist, to name a few.

Did you know that Acts wasn't the first time in Scripture believers were filled by the Holy Spirit? If you're an Evangelical, almost certainly not.

I could go on and on, but if you think you're biblically informed, see how you do on a little quiz:

1. Name the ten commandments.

2. Who is the first person whose faith was explicitly mentioned in Scripture as counting for righteousness?

3. In Matthew 7:1, Jesus said, "Judge not that you not be judged." Does this command forbid judging when read in context?

4. The Scripture says God is love. Does the Bible ever say God is truth?

5. The word "church" is translated from the Greek "ecclesia", meaning "assembly. When did God first have an assembly?

6. The Scripture calls the assembly a bride. Does it say this more in the Old Testament or in the New Testament?

7. When was the practice of tithing first mentioned in Scripture?

8. On what day of the week did the early Christians first worship?

9. When was the first New Testament church building built in the Bible?

10. What tribe did God name to serve in the tabernacle?

I will put the answers in the comment thread.

There are several words translated in the New Testament as "fool". The one that most describes the Evangelical "church" is "aphron". It means someone who is purposely mindless or unthinking. It comes closest to what I mean when I say the "church" is ignorant. I don't mean ignorant in an innocent way. I mean ignorant in the most derogatory sense. I mean what Paul meant when he spoke of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. I have coined the word "aphronism" from the Greek "apron". I needed a word that has only one meaning. Ignorance can be innocent or it can be the kind of ignorance to which Paul referred in Romans 1. It's a perniscious ignorance that is on purpose. "Aphronism" is my word for that. An aphronist is one who practices aphronism and he is aphronistic.

Coming in AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM IS A MENTAL GHETTO--Part II:
Breadth of the problem in three places.
1. Schools.

2. Pulpit.

3. Pew.

Depth of the problem in four categories.
1. Biblical ignorance.

2. Ignorance in general knowledge.

3. Ignorance in how to think.

4. Ignorance about the biblical command to practice precise thought.

Coming in AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM IS A MENTAL GHETTO--Part III:
Mental Ghetto or Swamp of Emotions. Objective truth or feelings. Study the Bible or have devotions.

MAKING GOD GO FETCH--Would You Like Modern Evangelicalism or the Bible?

I despise those ads. Those ads are the ones being run by Interstate Batteries. You've probably seen them. The ad I remember most clearly has two cartoon men trying to park in the same parking spot. Both are mad, then one gets a goofy look and cute little hearts start floating through the air from his chest to the other man's chest. Immediately, the other man gets the same goofy look. The two cartoon men are drawn much like one would expect the characters in a Bambi cartoon for preschool children to be drawn. The constant smile, and eyes the size of dinner plates. Interstate Batteries is run by a fellow named Norm Miller and if one goes to the website promoted on the ads one ends up at a linked site that supposedly gives the gospel. Sounds great, right?

Buuuttt.....maaybeee.....nooottt.......

The ads don't say the gospel and when one follows the links one won't find the gospel there, either, except in a very distorted and disguised form that isn't the gospel found in Scripture.

If one starts with the ads, they are effeminate, speaking only of "love" and not the sort of love spoken of by Scripture. It's a sappy, emotional "love", the sentimentality characteristic of bed time stories for very small children or stories for very young girls. This sort of distorted "gospel" is, in my opinion, why we see so few men in the "churches". And why most of the males there are often effeminate in both manner and personality, unable to get angry about evil, but ready to flash mad at anyone who dares defend biblical orthodoxy, because anyone who does such a thing isn't very nice.

There's a reason for their distorted "love" in the ads. The reason is their effeminate, quasi-Christian doctrine. And such doctrines are the fruit of the constant wish for a god incapable of anger, but always anxious to nurture.

If one follows their links to find their "gospel", you will find this heresy: "What's the problem? ...that God-shaped emptiness..." So then, according the Norm Miller and Interstate Batteries, the reason we should turn to God is "that God-shaped emptiness". Man, then, isn't a sinner. He's just lonely.

This contradicts the Bible and Jesus' message. Jesus told us to repent because the Kingdom of God was at hand and in Matthew 4:17 we see that is the heart of His message. Who gave Norm Miller, Interstate Batteries or anyone else permission to change the gospel once bestowed? Norm Miller doesn't tell anyone to repent, but only to pray a particular prayer he gives for us to repeat--an idea NOT FOUND ANYWHERE IN SCRIPTURE.

When I saw the ads, I wasn't sure if the company was run by Modern Evangelicals or by Mormons. I thought probably Mormons. The reason is simple. The ads say nothing that the Mormons (or Joel Osteen, or Christian Science, or Seventh Day Adventists, or Jews, or Oprah Winfrey) might say. And Mormons run very similar ads about family "love" or God's "love" and it's always the same content-free pablum. And when one follows the links one finds a "gospel" that is the same "gospel" one will hear from Mormon missionaries at the first meeting--Mormons love to quote John 3:16 and tell you to "accept Jesus", just like Billy Graham. Even Jehovah's witnesses present much the same thing, except that they won't say Jesus was God. The Mormons will.

Do you see the difference? If not, you're probably a typical Evangelical, as I once was. And these ads are typical of the Modern Evangelical "gospel".

Now you may object. You might say, "But the site does mention sin and God's perfect moral character as the real problem."

If you reread the link, the problem isn't sin. It's the emptiness. Sin and God's perfect moral character is mentioned as a problem, but it's not the main problem or the motivation to turn to God. It is mentioned late in the presentation as a problem, not the problem. Sin is presented only as a problem because it might keep us from getting our empty hearts filled.

This approach is done because some see it as a good reason to get folks to listen. Truthfully, though, it gets very few. It gets only a few because it smells like a pitch. And it is. Adults, especially men, don't listen to this much because it's such a juvenile approach. Even the kids don't listen much. They're too busy being kids to spend ten minutes experiencing existential angst. Face it; they can't even spell existential angst.

As odd as it sounds I always find that I get more ears on the street if I go straight to the meat: Repent. Judgment is coming, because you won't live forever. More important you won't find the sticky-gooey approach in Scripture. In all of Scripture one cannot find this let's-all-have-a-good-cry-together-cuz-we're-all-so-lonely-snd-forlorn approach. It's here's a righteous God. He's coming for you. What are you going to do about it? Take up your cross.

Which brings up another way that Miller and most pastors lie to folks. The Scripture says we're supposed to suffer for Christ and if we don't we aren't His. Yet, this corn-syrup-and-brown-sugar "gospel" says, "Come ta Geezus cuz yur lonely." No talk of cross-bearing allowed.

I have to admit the Scripture does indicate God fulfills us. It's a major theme of Scripture. It's just not the gospel. It seems to be the feature the salesman didn't mention, but you found after you got the car home.

Even worse, if one follows the link to the Interstate Batteries website to find their "gospel", an outside link is recommended. Follow that site's links for men and one gets here. It's blasphemous. There one is encouraged to "give God a try"!!!!!!

WAIT! This is the Sovereign of creation! You're going to give Him a try? Is He supposed to be happy that you picked Him to play on your team? And what if He doesn't meet your test? That's blasphemy and the only reason it doesn't make us recoil in disgust is that it's just the sort of heresy we've been swimming in inside the Evangelical "church" for the past 50 or so years. You won't find this sort of stuff in Spurgeon or Henry.

Most important, you won't find it in the Bible.

This idea of "trying" God out makes salvation a work of man, to be undone by man when man decides God's performance fulfilling us isn't up to man's expectations. Thus Miller blasphemes against the God Who said, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father," and, "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." John 6:45 and 65.

More blasphemous still, the concocted notion that one can "try" God, puts man in the catbird seat, deciding if God is good enough in His role of providing personal fulfillment for me. Since when did God say we are the judges? Isn't that the very essence of sin itself? We get to judge God's commandments to see if we think we'll obey them. Now Miller, and much of the Evangelical "church", has extended the dominion of man. We can now determine if God's commandment to repent and follow Him is appropriately satisifying to us by way of fulfilling our wonderful little hearts.

How nice of God to try so hard for us, don't you think? Pat Him on His little head. Fetch, God! Fetch! Atta boy, God! Maybe a little faster next time, okay? And see if you can't let up on the slobber some. It's kinda gross.

This is filthy stuff, but I used to believe it. And I spewed it, too. So, if I ever act like I'm not guilty, hit me on the head. Hard. It took a lot of time swimming in Scripture every day and slowly my mind began to be different.

Now if you've read much of my palaver lately you know one of the things that's been on my mind is the "aphronism" of our age in the "church". What I mean by that is the tendency to not think and the dislike for rational, biblical thought. (From the Greek "aphron".)

Could it be that a movement which majors on the emotional and sees a particular emotional state as the greatest goal, or at least a sign of spiritual achievement in the eyes of its god, might under value rationality?

This is the true state of Modern Evangelicalism. For instance, one will often argue with a "Christian" about a biblical doctrine or ethic and be met with "the Spirit hasn't convicted me of that yet". That is to say the objector is willing to reject what is plainly written in the Scripture they claim to obey for something else which they claim is indicated by their inner state. And they see no contradiction or, worse yet, they see the contradiction intellectually, but prefer to ignore it in order to preserve the tingles they have gotten by serving their own emotional appetites. At other times a speaker or "service" will be valued over another, not on the basis of the actual doctrinal content of the "service" or the speaker's sermon, but on the emotional response experienced.

If Jesus or Paul came back today, they would rail against Evangelicals. Neither of them ever presented the "gospel" in the syrupy manner Miller does, which is the manner it usually is in most "churches".

Thought has consequences. And so does its absence.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK--November 15, 2008

The gospel doesn't "engage" the culture. It subverts it.--Me in a note to a friend.

WHICH KINGDOM?

With Americans celebrating the election of our first Marxist president, perhaps it's time to reflect on just how we, as saints, ought to relate to the nation in which we live. On Fox News just this morning a video clip of the celebration outside the White House showed young folks with American flags and hammer-and-sickle flags.

That's right. The communist flag celebrated at the White House by the supporters of our incoming president.

This new day was the subject when I wrote THIS to a couple of fellows this morning:

Stan and Sola,
I've not yet read much from either of you concerning what this means to the kingdom of God. Almost all your concerns have to do with the US. (And you're both right--this is a tragedy for the nation--and it makes me very sad.)

I believe one of the great sins of the "church" is our love affair with and faith in this country. (Instead of depending on and loving the God of Israel.) Another great sin of the "church" is a disbelief in the biblical doctrine that we ought to suffer persecution or else face the fact that we aren't His. In fact, since the seventies, the youth in the "church" have been drowned in the syrup of "success"--the idiotic assumption that if one is doing the right things in the right way (read the effeminate way) folks will like them--a false teaching that has lead to silence on matters of sin and righteousness in and out of the "church". This is not only unbiblical, but can only be believed if we continue in the additional sin of non-evangelism. Thus the "life-style (or friendship) evangelism" movement (more correctly called life-style NON-evangelism). If we had actually gone out and told folks that the kingdom of God is at hand and that they ought to repent of their sins in order to avoid hell, we'd all have understood that hatred by the world is the proper experience of God's people. (Anything less is a result of sin--the cowardly sin of denying Christ by means of silence.)

I'm pretty sure that particular silliness will soon be history. And ironically, now after decades of folks calling themselves "Evangelical" while REMAINING SILENT ABOUT THE EVANGEL, it will soon be illegal to evangelize.

Tell me THAT'S not God's judgment.

It seems that many Evangelicals are more worried about having a place of freedom and affluence in the here and now than any actual concern about obedience as soldiers of Christ. According to the Old Covenant, God's people could expect peace and prosperity if they obeyed the Father. In the New Covenant, however, God's assembly actually has suffering as a promise for their obedience. Heard that in all that "God-anointed" teaching lately?

Think about it. We have entire "ministries" that have more to do with American politics than with biblical Christianity. Not exactly the Great Commission, huh?

I believe that, perhaps--just perhaps, this is a judgment on the assembly for our love of this nation over the kingdom of Heaven. (And for our faith in a "strong economy" for affluence over faith in the Father for our daily bread.)

Jesus said His kingdom wasn't of this world. What about ours?

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.
NOTE--The passages in bold were added for clarification.

WHY EVANGELICALS SHOULD BE PUT IN JAIL AND HAVE ALL THEIR RIGHTS TAKEN AWAY IMMEDIATELY

I seldom bring up politics because it's off the subject and, even worse, it actually may work against the main subject by causing unnecessary friction. But in this case, I'm making an exception. I believe we are seeing the culmination of a leftward, anti-christian swing in the United States. Today, Americans are in jail in the US because they are biblical.

If you don't believe this is possible, let me remind you of several things that have been said by Democrats in presidential campaigns. First, when Bill Bradley was running several election cycles ago, he had a press conference. He said that religious ideas have no place in the public forum. I remember hearing him say that and I remember not hearing or seeing anything, even on conservative talk radio, about this horrible statement. No one seemed to realize the import of such a statement. This means that Bradley wouldn't allow consideration of anything with a religious basis. Imagine the uproar if any other group was muzzled. What if he said no civil rights ideas could be allowed? What if he outlawed Republican ideas? Democratic ideas? Gay ideas? Scientific ideas?

What other group could any politician openly admit that he/she wanted them to loose their speech rights?

The second event you may remember is another obscure quote, but from Joe Biden, the Democratic vp candidate this year. After being asked a question about Barak Obama's Marxist ideas, he said that reporters don't "have the right to ask just any question they want". Yes, that's right. Joe Biden believes that policy questions aren't covered by free speech. And again, no one picked up on Biden's dictatorial mindset.

Do you think that Biden will become MORE tolerant if he gets the actual power he wants?

Third, is Barak Obama and his treatment of "Joe the Plumber", Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. After asking a policy question and remarking that Obama's politics "sounds like socialism", Joe has been the target of all sorts of illegal harassment and investigations by Democrats in government positions.

The message is clear. Expose Obama and get revenge from the government.

I don't bring this stuff up to try to influence your vote or the vote of anyone else. If I could I would, but by now it's too late. We are almost certainly going to be under President Obamarx and a very socialistic Congress for the next four years, starting in January. I'm just asking you to face the truth about the coming persecution of Christians. Read this: http://www.keychristianissues.com/America.html.

AND I'M HAPPY THAT YOU AND I ARE GOING TO JAIL.

Well, let me clarify. First of all by "you" I mean only those among you who are really born again. Very few of you are, even among those of you who think you are. And I also wish to say that I know that suffering is ahead. Yet, there are specific reasons that I'm glad you're going to jail, going to find it harder to get a job, going to get fired, going to be kicked out of schools, and so forth.

Here are my reasons for being so happy:

1. If things go well, "Christian" broadcasting will be banned or curtailed severely. I pray for this because Joel Osteen, Beth Moore, and Benny Hinn will go away. And so will all sorts of other liars. The true gospel of repentance and the coming judgment of God isn't heard on the air, with few exceptions. Better to have no gospel on the air, than to have a lying gospel, locking folks on the path to hell before they have a chance to hear the truth.

2. Many of the effeminate little boys who fill pulpits with sticky sweet drivel about self-love and sending them dough from your welfare check so you can buy a Bentley will go away.

3. The churches will empty. This is good since so few there are saved. They might as well know it.

4. The true gospel won't be dissipated in the culture by being mixed with false messages like the Word of Faith, Emerging, Liberal Protestantism, or the Federal Vision messages. The false will go away because only the Spirit of God will make a man willing to suffer as Christ did, the apostles did, and the forefathers did. That means that unsaved folks will hear the gospel again. Unmixed.

5. Many folks will have Peter-and-the-crowing-cock experiences. One of the great lines of demarcation between saints and sinners is how one responds to persecution. If one refuses to accept persecution, he isn't a believer. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Got that? "ALL". Not all in communist China. Not all in the Sudan. Just plain old "ALL". If you aren't persecuted, you aren't His. If you refuse persecution, you don't even love God. James 1:12 says, "Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." If you have refused persecution, repent like Peter did.

Your soul depends upon it.

6. Churches will lose their tax-exempt status. This is good because it will be much harder to build a religious kingdom. Instead, the real church will live as she did in Acts. Independent of government. Live saints going door to door and in the streets gospelizing in the power of the Spirit, not with eloquence or prepackaged pablum from some parachurch money changers. We ought to evangelize now.

Instead, we sin.

7. If things go well, the "Christian" publishing industry will go away, leaving us with only our Bibles.

Imagine that--just like the apostles again.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins. PS--Ready to pay the price? He's worth it.

IGNORANCE IS NEXT TO GODLINESS, Evangelicals vs. Jesus--Part III of II?

Most Evangelicals can’t name the ten commandments. Most CAN quote “Knowledge puffs up,” “God is love,” and “Judge not that you be not judged.”

And not much else.

Night before last I saw a Bible college student I'd met some time ago. He is a young man who is outwardly humble, quiet, and seems to be very concerned about his relationship to God. Yet, Dan is currently going to a “Christian” college that uses a text book that is in favor of homosexual marriage. I was shocked and angry. I reminded him that, as Christians, we aren’t to have anything to do with someone who calls himself a brother, yet knowlingly brings false teaching into the assembly. He didn’t know that. He squinted, furrowed his brow and slowly said, “There IS that verse that says we're to treat them as unbelievers,” thinking extra hard to remember anything at all.

That's all he knew about a central theme of Scripture?

Yep.

That's all he's got. And in a matter of months he may be your pastor or youth pastor. Does that scare you?

Several weeks ago, I read an article by Zac Poonen. Poonen is a Christian celebrity, a pastor, and author. Thousands read him and listen to him. He’s an authority. In his article he said that the first time believers were filled with the Holy Spirit was Acts 2, obviously oblivious to the fillings in the Old Testament and the filling of John the Baptist. When I corrected this, complete with biblical references, his defenders came out of the woodwork. They didn’t even MENTION the biblical mistakes Poonen made--let alone defend them. But they WERE mad at me.

Poonen's in sin. And so are his defenders. He isn’t doing the job of an elder while publicly holding the position. He isn’t studying the Scripture. Else, he’d remember John the Baptist and Bezalel and would know better than to say Acts 2 was the first time.

I could go on with example after example, from “Christian” nobodies to “Christian” celebrities. These folks hate the biblical Jesus, too. After all, the Jesus of Scripture kept saying “…have you not read…” and “…it is written…” Unlike today's Evangelicals, Jesus seemed to think that Scripture ought to settle any argument. And religious folks hated Him then, too.

Ironically, Poonen ended his article with “He who has ears to hear, let him hear," quoting the Jesus he ignores.

"Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear." Deuteronomy 29:4.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

BELTS LINES AND BIBLE VERSES

There are sins that a man can't hide if he's made a lifestyle habit of them. If your face is red and puffy and your breath smells like alcohol at 10 in the morning, you're a heavy drinker. You've spent years in the sins of self-indulgence and drunkenness.

If your waistline is huge, you eat too much. You've spent years in the sins of self-indulgence and gluttony.

If you have the ignorance of Scripture typical of almost all Evangelicals, you don't know or love God. You've spent years in the sins of self-indulgence and laziness.

And hypocrisy.

No excuse,
Phil Perkins.

IGNORANCE IS NEXT TO GODLINESS, I guess--Part II of II

"THE TEXT! THE TEXT! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE TEXT!"

Let's do an experiment today. I am going to give you a set of quotes. I spend time with lots of folks. I witness on the streets and to my fellow workers. I speak and write to the irreligious and the religious. So I put together a set of five quotes. I will ask you to take a guess. Were these quotes made by a.)a preacher, b.)a church officer, c.)a person who regularly goes to an Evangelical church and claims to be a Christian, d.)a person who seldom, if ever, goes to church, e.)I made it up?

Quote #1. "The text! The text! I don't CARE about the text (of Scripture)." (Yelled loudly.)

Quote #2. "I don't care about logic. I'm just mad!" (Again, yelled loudly.)

Quote #3. "I wish you'd stop throwing the Bible in my face!" (In a burst of anger, but in a hushed voice so no one else could hear.)

Quote #4. "I think you're right, but..." (Spoken over the phone to tell me that sin would continue, despite biblical evidence presented.)

Quote #5. "I prayed to accept Jesus." (In response to a question concerning where he thought he might go for eternity, referring to an event in his youth.)

THE ANSWERS:
1. The text! The text! I don't CARE about the text!

c. An Evangelical church-goer who claims to be a believer. This fellow was a recent graduate from Southern Baptist college and attends an SBC church. It was in a discussion in which I took the historical position on a particular doctrine and advanced multiple Scriptures in its defense. My friend denied this doctrine vigorously, but quoted no Scripture, though asked repeatedly.

2. I don't care about logic. I'm just mad.

c. An Evangelical church-goer who claims to be a believer. Again the same fellow in the same discussion as in quote #1.

3. I wish you'd stop throwing the Bible in my face!

a. An Evangelical pastor. His name is Paul Ostrander of Billings, MT. He is not what he says he is. One would think this came from a tense time in street evangelism, but the non-churched don't seem to hate the Scripture that much.

4. I think you're right, but...

b. A church officer. This fellow is a deacon named Jerry. The church he attends and helps run knowingly supports teachers who deny the veracity of Scripture. He admitted that isn't okay with the Bible, but was angry that I had run around the church telling folks what the leadership was up to behind closed doors. So he continues in the sin and so does his church.

5. I prayed to accept Jesus.

d. A person who never goes to church at all. He was a drunk lying next to the trash bins behind the Denny's restaurant in downtown Billings, MT. He was a Southern Baptist.

SOOOOO.....how many did you get right? 5 for 5--A+. Apply now to Mensa. 4 for5--B. You're pretty smart, but no genius. 3 for 5--C-. Not quite college material. 2 or lower. I'll bet you teach adult Sunday School!

If you didn't do so well, here's an extra-credit quote to bring your grade up:

EXTRA CREDIT QUOTE. "I love God and want to know Him, so I study the Bible constantly."

EXTRA CREDIT ANSWER. e. I made that one up.

Never heard it.

Ever.

Think about it,
Phil Perkins. PS--Really. I've NEVER heard that one. Probably never will.

IGNORANCE IS NEXT TO GODLINESS, I guess--Part I of II

I recently met a commenter on a blog. I'll call him "Bob". "Bob" is probably a sincere Evangelical. His view of scripture is very high as Evangelicals go these days. However, his view of actually studying the Bible is typically Evangelical. While he SAYS we ought to know what Jesus teaches, biblical knowledge is optional, at best. And those who spend the time and energy necessary to know the Bible are actually bad.

Read what Bob wrote and see if it's not the sort of thing you hear in your church:

Christianity is not about How much one knows about Jesus or believing How rich God wants us to be. Neither is it about claiming to know more than others or claiming that God speaks to them audibly or in person. It is not about thinking and living as we like or what we think is right or holy. It’s about dying to self which means not only in actions but in our thinking, bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ (i.e his teachings).In short it means complete obedience and full surrender to Jesus the Christ. What we think or believe or hope is not gonna save us even if we have faith that can move mountains unless we abide in Christ (i.e live according to his word). He sent the Holy Ghost to teach us his will so that we may abide in him. So, any spirit that does not teach the commandments or complete obedience to Christ is not holy.
Lord I pray that you help us to understand the teachings of Christ that we may abide in HIM.

THERE. Does what Bob wrote sound familiar?

Well, if you're a Bob, this is my answer to you:

Bob,
Parts of your comment are VERY GOOD. The fact that we are to die to self isn't taught anymore. And the idea that we ought to bring our thoughts into line with Christ is both good and biblical.

Yet, I have some questions. One, if it's important to bring our thoughts into obedience to Christ's teachings, where did He say in His teachings that "how much one knows about Jesus" isn't vitally important? Is that one of His teachings?

Two, if it isn't important to know about Jesus, why do we speak the gospel? It's about Jesus, after all. Can folks be saved without knowing about Jesus?

Three, when did Jesus say we are to be rich at all? He and His disciples blew that one. So did Paul and most of the Prophets.

Four, if it isn't important to know as much about Christ as possible, why did God send "the Holy Ghost to teach us", as you say? What is He going to teach us, since knowledge isn't all that important?

The truth is that Christ came to die for our sins and to be the Light of the World. Light in Scripture is a metaphor for the giving of knowledge. If you are a saint, your number one job, after sanctification, is to become a Bible student.

The word "disciple" means a learner. We are ordered to make disciples--students. What do you do with that? Throw it away?

Christ, through His Holy Spirit, said in Psalm 119:9-11, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. 10 With all my heart I have sought Thee; Do not let me wander from Thy commandments. 11 Thy word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against Thee."

So, while you've disparaged biblical knowledge, you've actually done even worse than that. You disparaged those who have done their homework. You said, "Neither is it about claiming to know more than others..." Actually, that IS IMPORTANT.

Do you have any idea how many hours it takes to become fluent in Scripture knowledge? I can tell you almost no Evangelicals, including their pastors, do know. We know they don't know because they don't know their Bibles.

Scriptural knowledge is one of the qualifications for leadership, so comparing the knowledge of different brothers and sisters is mandated in the Scripture.

Did you know that? Do you even know where? Did you know why? If not, why not?

When was the last time you thanked someone who has studied the Scripture and put that blessing into your life? Christ, in His Scripture said we are to honor those elders who perform their duty well. You, Sir, have dishonored God's best servants.

Instead, you ought to seek their help.

Think about it.
Phil Perkins.

THE HOLY SPIRIT MADE ME DO IT

Comedian Flip Wilson had a character in his arsenal of goofball personas he invented to make the rest of us laugh who always had the same ready excuse for the stupid or bad things "Geraldine" did. "The Devil made me do it." Audiences laughed hysterically because it was entirely obvious that the excuse was just that--an excuse. In today's Evangelical community the excuse has been changed.

But only a little.

Today, males in the pulpit who are SUPPOSED TO actually study the Word and report to us in sermon form what that Word says, often resort to "and God told me..."

If God has spoken to all these men, why do they contradict each other? Is God confused? Is He a liar? Like the Catholics who have a piece of the cross in this cathedral and one in that cathedral and other cathedrals until, when added up, the cross must have weighed several tons, even so Evangelicals could put all their and-God-told-me's together and start a new religion.

Christo-hindo-buddho-islo-mormo-watchtowero-psycho-scientologo-confusitarianism.

Take this quote from "Jenn" who wrote, "You have to study - and hard. Then pray that God will open your eyes and heart about the questions at hand."

Now think this through. There are two sources of spiritual truth available to Jenn, evidently, and the best one for the hard questions isn't the Scripture. After you study, if you still have questions after a time of study, ask God. Notice she didn't say to ask God and then go back to studying. No, when we can't get anymore out of that Bible Ouija board, we go to our other Ouija board. Pray and wait for the unholy tingles, call it "the Holy Spirit" and you're on your way.

And He will "open your eyes and heart", according to Jenn. (Where does it say in the Bible that God will give us important truth without study?)

This sort of thinking is unbiblical and misses the seriousness of dealing with God. We have forgotten the holiness and fierceness of God. We have forgotten that false teachers will live for eternity in hell. We have forgotten that God ordered the death of all who claim God has spoken what He didn't say.

Study is hard work. Why would we think for a moment that the God Who designed the eye and the stars the eyes sees would be simple or easy? Did He not tell us that we are to pursue Him with everything we have?

Here are some questions for those who seek God in the tingles, instead of Scripture:

1. If the Scripture isn't the final authority, why waste our time there at all? Go around the road block and get the answers right away.

2. Is your "Holy Spirit" confused, a liar, or are there more than one since your "Holy Spirit" has so many opinions?

3. If the Scripture can't do the job and you need the tingles, why not admit in all your doctrinal statements that your final authority isn't Scripture, but the spirit or spirits you call "Holy"?

4. If you really believe that your "Holy Spirit" is right, why don't you challenge the other "Holy Spirits" who give doctrines that contradict your "Holy Spirit"?

5. Ought you not warn others of teachers whose "Holy Spirit" isn't holy at all if yours is?

I wonder what God will say to me next Tuesday. Perhaps we'll start releasing buterflies during service. The doves were just too messy.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK--October 2, 2008

The seeming contradictions that are in the word of God are great stumbling-blocks to men of corrupt minds.

Matthew Henry in his commentary on Jesus' discussion of divorce in Matthew 19.

BOYDMILLER, A RELIGION STUDENT, AND PATRICIA BURNS--Three examples of the new paganism in the church.

I have decided to do a new series on what I have previously called "a soft paganism" in the church.

In the seventies and later, churchees (churchees is my term for the Modern Evangelicals, most of whom don't know God, but go to church and believe that they do know God) began several pagan practices. They slipped in unnoticed and I myself practiced most of them.

The one I have in mind here is the replacement of the Scripture with feelings in the inner state. What I mean is that when something is mentioned of Scripture, folks who SAY they believe in Scripture as the absolute Word of God will actually contradict it and cite the inner workings of their heart, mind, soul, or spirit.

Good examples of this are found in the last two comment threads on this site. In the last one a fellow calling himself "Boydmiller" has refused to support missionaries and pastors, encouraging others to do the same sin. (He has changed his position numerous times, so be sure to read all in context and go here to see the beginning of our interactions, so you can follow his changes--or just take my word for it if you wish since his position changes are mute to the point here. When faced with the objective teaching of Scripture to care for each other, his final defense was that "the Holy Spirit" had not led him to support ministers.

Now, I don't know just what he means by the leading of the Holy Spirit, but it usually refers to what is felt in an inner state mentally or emotionally. So in final analysis, he has supplanted the authority of Scripture with his "Holy Spirit".

In the comment thread on my last posting on the Eight Characteristics of Hell, I met Patricia Burns. She has a cult-like little thing going. When I confronted her with the fact that she is trying to teach men in contradiction to Scripture which forbids the practice of women having authority over men in the assembly, her defense was that she didn't contradict Scripture and that she would stay with her Scriptural ideas (Scriptural in her mind, that is) until her "Holy Spirit" told her otherwise. So we know Patricia, too, will leave the teaching of Scripture if her "Holy Spirit" leads her a different way.

My third example is a religion student whose name currently escapes me. He is attending an SBC school which has knowingly allowed teachers who don't believe in the inerrancy of the Scripture to teach that the Scripture has errors and is currently using a text which explicitly allows for homosexual marriage. When I confronted him with the fact that contributing to such folks is sin, his defense was the same as Patricia and Boydmiller, his "Holy Spirit".

This has happened sublty and occurs in the pulpit. Folks who SAY they believe the Bible contradict it on the basis, not of a different interpretation of the Bible, but of the leading of their "Holy Spirit", whatever that is.

Their "Holy Spirit"(s) are not the actual Holy Spirit anymore than the "Jesus" of the Watchtower is the actual Jesus. And the proof is in the fact their "Holy Spirits" contradict each other, since different folks hold different doctrines given them by their "Holy Spirits".

Pray for me as I think this through and try to articulate it for us.

And pray for my purity and wisdom.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

STEALING FROM SERVANTS

Boydmiller is a fellow I met on another comment line and he thinks we ought not give pastors, missionaries, evangelists anything to live on. In stead, they should "work with their hands" like everyone else.

No, wait. That statement's too embarassing because of a little thing called THE BIBLE. So now it's okay in Boydworld to give them something. Yes, we now have express permission from Boyd to give them "food and drink". Thanks, Boyd.

But, money is still bad.

So I asked if I should stop sending money to missions and start sending sandwiches and Koolaid.

I await his answer.

EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF HELL FROM REVELATION 14--Part IV

AND THEY WILL BE TERRIFIED, PAINS AND ANGUISH WILL TAKE HOLD OF THEM; THEY WILL WRITHE LIKE A WOMAN IN LABOR, THEY WILL LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER IN ASTONISHMENT, THEIR FACES ALFAME.
Isaiah the prophet, chapter thirteen, verse eight.

Part 4 of 4 from Revelation 14:9-12.

PREVIOUSLY COVERED:

I. Hell Is One of God's Great Passions. IN THE CROSS HAIRS.

II. Hell Is Punishment. NO EXCUSES.

III. Hell Is Public. THE DISPLAY OF THE DAMNED.

IV. Hell Is Permanent. NO BACK DOOR.

V. Hell Is Painful. NO RELIEF.

VI. Hell Is Personal. GOD KNOWS YOU.

VII. Hell Is Certain. NO WAY OUT.

VIII. Hell Is Appropriate and Measured. NO APPEAL.
Hell--is God having a tizzy? Is He a violent, vengeful brute, unstoppable, yet just angry because there is no bigger bully in the universe? Why would we not think so since it is beyond our comprehension just as much as the love of God is? The Bible says, “NO”. God isn’t an uncontrolled tyrant. He is a just king.

Though it is intense, searing, painful, dreaded, and violent beyond anything one can suffer on this earth, it is measured and completely appropriate justice. God has three cups that accurately measure justice and sin. All three of them will be filled with precision.

Notice first in the passage (Revelation 14:9--12) that the punishment is based on sin. Verse 9 says, “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand…” So the punishment isn’t willy-nilly. It’s appropriate and we have been forewarned We are to be punished FOR something. Then in verse 10 we read about one of the cups God is measuring with. It says, “Even he himself (that very one) will drink of the cup of the wine of the passionate anger of God, poured out unmixed into the cup of His wrath and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

Let's take this verse apart and find the absolute appropriateness of God’s hell in four ways:

First, though not spoken outright, the notion of the patience of God bathes the passage. When God spoke of the wine of His passionate, long-determined anger He was speaking of something that takes awhile. It’s not spontaneous. It’s thought out. Wine doesn’t happen over a weekend. The vineyard is planted. It grows over years and finally gives a harvest. But wait. Not yet. Now one must go and hand pluck grapes, gathering them for the winepress. Once in the winepress, another presses and squeezes out the blood of the grapes, each cluster, and each grape. This is planned. This is a process. This takes time. God isn’t having a fit of anger. It’s not that type of passion. It’s the passion that leads to planning, action, and a culmination. God will not acquit the wicked.

Second, notice that the punishment is only for the wicked. Verse nine says that God will torment “If someone worships the beast…” Those in hell are rightly there. God says that we all deserve hell. We all are under wrath.

Third, the end of verse 10 is chilling. “…and he himself will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” Who is the Lamb? Well, it’s Jesus. This shows how appropriate hell is. I have already written of the public humiliation of hell. We have spoken of the pain of hell. We have begun to speak of the fact that hell is punishment for sin. In all these ways, the death of the Lamb pre-mirrored hell. The very folks who punished Him for His wrong (in their eyes) will find themselves being punished for the very sins for which He told them to repent. And this includes the sin of punishing Him. See Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. The same folks who publicly humiliated Him, including those who mock Him today, will shrink in shame in His holy, innocent presence. And the pain they will suffer will be in lieu of the pain He suffered, because they refused to repent so that His suffering would suffice for God’s wrath. Now they will suffer for their own sins--much more appropriate than the Lamb, who suffered for the sins of others, not for His own.

Hence, hell is appropriate. That fact will be shoved in the face of everyone in hell. Everyone else in the universe will know it and nod their heads accordingly.

Fourth, the appropriateness of hell is shown in the fact that God’s passionate, long-determined wrath is measured into a cup. While the passage doesn’t actually bring up the topic of measuring, the rest of Scripture does. There is a theme in Scripture of the Cup. Christ spoke of the Cup. The prophets spoke of the Cup. And the Cup may be considered as actually three cups, the Cup of Iniquity, the Cup of Wrath, and the Cup of Drunkenness. At times it seems that Scripture speaks of all three as one. Other times it seems to speak of the Cup of Drunkenness and the Cup of Wrath as one cup. Still other times it seems to speak of the three individually. In Psalm 16:5, we see that God Himself is the Cup that belongs to the saint. It says, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup…” The unrepentant, however, have quite a different cup to drink.

The Cup of Iniquity is the pre-measured amount of sin God has decided a sinful person, a sinful people, or this sinful world will sin before they are brought to justice. They are brought to the bar of judgment at a predetermined time of God’s choosing. And this time of judgment is also the time at which the sinful person or sinful people have sinned the exact amount to fill the Cup of Iniquity. The judgment may be a miraculous thing like plague, war, or famine, or it may be simply facing God after “natural” death, or it may be the end of this age. All these are times of God's judgment when He will pour out His wrath.

This idea of a measured amount of sin is in some passages of Scripture without reference to the Cup. Once such place is in James chapter 5, where we read about the rich whose wealth was achieved by swindling laborers out of their wages. James 5:5 says, “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” So, just like a farmer who gives grain to fatten a calf for slaughter, the sinful unwittingly serve God by filling the Cup of Iniquity to the point that it becomes the appropriate time for the just judgment God has planned.

Interestingly, the judgment is both a response by God to the cries of the wicked (James 5:4: Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.) and part of God’s predetermined plan. And both of these seemingly contradictory aspects of judgment are obliquely mentioned in James 5. First, the predetermination of God’s judgment is in the fact that the rich oppressors are already under judgment, though they haven’t yet felt it. Verse two says, “Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.” Notice “have rotted” and “are moth-eaten”. Both of these phrases are in the Greek perfect tense, meaning that they were rotted and had become moth-eaten long ago, even though they were not so at the time. It is like the English statement “You’re a dead man!” Obviously, if the man is alive to hear someone tell him he’s a dead man, he isn’t dead. What we mean is that it has been decided that he will die and there is nothing he can do about it. Thus the wealth of the rich of James 5 is already as good as gone. Second, the predetermination of God’s judgment is shown in the fact that, though sinning, the sinners have in fact worked God’s ultimate will (though not His moral will) just as the Jews and Romans did at the crucifixion of Jesus. Speaking of the sin of killing Jesus, Acts 2:23 states, “…this Man, delivered up by the definite counsel of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

The Cup of Iniquity is sin of which God keeps an accounting for future judgment. It is mentioned in passages like these:

Revelation 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

Genesis 15:16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."

Job 21:19 You say, “God stores up their iniquity for their children.” Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.

Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Revelation 18:5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

In the same way, though, it is God’s plan that saints do an exact amount of righteous deeds before they are taken to their reward. II Corinthians 10:6,“…being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”

The Cup of Drunkenness is part of God’s Cup of Wrath, but is such an important part that He mentions it separately and at times He mentions the Cup of Wrath and the Cup of Drunkenness, seemingly for emphasis. The Cup of Drunkenness is the numbing of the mind and soul to spiritual truth, sin, and God. Because of this spiritual stupor the sinner is unaware of the coming judgment. He ought to know because it’s obvious or because he has actually been told. He even looses sight of the personal bad effects of his own sin, much like the gambler, the drunk, or the womanizer. In Romans 1 we read that the sodomite is so morally drunk that he is physically violated in a way many would consider worse than murder and doesn’t even know it, “…receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.”

Recall the example of the oppressive rich in James 5? They were unaware of the fact that they were building the fire for their own hell. Here are some more passages that speak of the Cup of Drunkenness:

Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.

Jeremiah 25:15-16 Thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them."

Isaiah 51:17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

Isaiah 51:22 Thus says your Lord, Yahweh, your God who pleads the cause of his people: "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of My wrath you shall drink no more;

Zechariah 12:2 Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah.

Lamentations 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.

When a man or woman no longer has guilt over his or her sin, and is happy without guilt pangs or fear of God, it's a sign that there is no hope for his or her soul. Notice the sarcasm of the quote from Lamentations. “Rejoice and be glad…” God wants the scoffer to scoff. All the more surprise when the flames of hell lick his face!

The Intro to Hell is not knowing you’re going.

The last cup is the Cup of Wrath, part of which is the Cup of Drunkenness. The Cup of Wrath is that measure of hell or of earthly judgment that is determined by the preordained will of God to most glorify Him. The point in time when a sinning person or people fills the Cup of Iniquity, God pours out the Cup of Wrath, starting with drunkenness, ending with violent destruction. The Cup of Wrath is exactly proportional to the Cup of Iniquity for each individual in hell, for each nation, and for the world all together. In the Revelation the Cup of Wrath becomes a “bowl”. This is a broad flat vessel used for offerings.

Psalm 11:6 Let Him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

Psalm 75:8 For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and He pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.

Isaiah 51:17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

Jeremiah 25:15-26 Thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them." So I took the cup from Yahweh’s hand, and made all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, and all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.

Jeremiah 25:28 And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, “Thus says the Yahweh of hosts: You must drink!”

Ezekiel 23:32-33 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "You shall drink your sister's cup that is deep and large; you shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it contains much; you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria;

Habakkuk 2:16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!

Revelation 16:2-12 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "Just are You, O Holy One, Who is and Who was, for You brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!" And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are Your judgments!" The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God Who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

Revelation 18:6-7 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, “I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.”

XI. Hell is barely avoidable. JESUS DRANK MY CUP.
Being under the Cups of Iniquity, Drunkenness, and Wrath is unnecessary. In fact, Jesus underwent the Cup of Wrath for us. He spoke of it many times in the gospels and we commemorate it at communion. In the garden He asked if He could accomplish the will of the Father without drinking the Cup.

He is our Cup.

So, there is a ninth characteristic of hell mentioned in Revelation 14:9-12. Hell is avoidable, but barely. Verse 12 says, “But here is the perseverance of the holy people--those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Notice the phrase “the holy people”. Most translations say “the saints”. And that’s a good translation. The problem is that we’ve forgotten what a saint is. “Saint” is a translation of the Greek word for “holy”--one set apart from all others by a righteous God. The New Testament writers used this word more than any other to describe the believers. More than “believer”. More than “the elect”. Over twice as many times as any other title, the New Testament refers to God’s people as “the holies”. As we would say in English “the rich”, “the poor”, “the whites”, “the blacks”, “the disadvantaged”, or “the privileged”, the Scripture uses a description for a name. God’s people are those who live up to the description “holy”. The holies “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

So what are the two qualifications for escape from hell? First, repent. Begin to keep the commandments of God. Second, obey the “faith of Jesus”. There are no other ways. All other religions are false. The only faith that will get you to heaven is the faith of Jesus. And this is the message that Jesus had. Matthew 4:17 says, After that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for near is the kingdom of heaven.” When the Jews were convicted of the sin of murdering the Christ, they asked Peter what they ought to do. In Acts 2:38 Peter answered this way:

Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.

EIGHT CHARACTERISITCS OF HELL FROM REVELATION 14--Part III

HIS WINNOWING FORK IS IN HIS HAND, TO CLEAR HIS THRESHING FLOOR AND TO GATHER THE WHEAT INTO HIS BARN, BUT THE CHAFF HE WILL BURN WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE. John the Baptist, speaking about Jesus, when asked if he (John) was the Messiah, in Luke chapter three, verse seventeen.

Part 3 0f 4 from Revelation 14:9-12.

PREVIOUSLY COVERED:

I. Hell Is One of God's Great Passions. IN THE CROSS HAIRS.

II. Hell Is Punishment. NO EXCUSES.

III. Hell Is Public. THE DISPLAY OF THE DAMNED.

IV. Hell Is Permanent. NO BACK DOOR.

V. Hell Is Painful. NO RELIEF.

VI. Hell Is Personal. GOD KNOWS YOU.
God personally hates each and every sinner personally. That is to say, on the personal level at which one chooses friends and enemies, God finds each and every one of us thoroughly filthy and repulsive because each of us has sinned and each of us is a sinner. He can’t stand us. If you doubt me, then read this from verse 10: “He himself will drink the cup…” Most translations just say “he”, not “he himself.” That’s because “he” is a good translation that gets the literal sense. However, there is something more than simply the literal word-for-word meaning of the vocabulary here in this passage. Beyond the vocabulary, the grammar in the Greek of this sentence has a double emphasis on the concept of “he”. It actually says “he” twice in a weird way we can’t do in English. Why would God do that?

Well, to answer that let’s find out who “he” is. The previous verse tells us he’s the man who has worshiped the beast and his image or taken his mark. In other words, he’s the man who has sinned in this life. The emphasis in this whole passage until verse is on the individual. Only in verse 11 is the plural used. Until then it is all the individual.

God isn’t going to put a herd of folks in hell. He’s going to judge each one and sentence each one and supervise the punishment of each one for all eternity. Each one. And each one will stand in front of God and all His other creatures as every act, word, and thought is exposed. Not one person who ever lived, now lives, or ever will live will have one THOUGHT that won’t be exposed on the biggest big screen that has or ever will exist. The lady down the street that you lusted after will know. The innocent fellow you started a rumor about will know. The shop keeper you stole from will know. The co-worker you pretended to like but hated because he got the promotion and you didn‘t will know. The teacher on whose test you cheated will know. The job applicant you didn’t hire because of the color of his skin will know. The cab fair you cheated will know. Everyone will know. Everything.

But most of all God will know. And He will personally punish you for every individual sin in your life for eternity. God will personally be in full knowledge of each of your sins for eternity. And He will punish you.

Read what David said about the murder of Uriah in Psalm 51. King David committed adultery with another man‘s wife. When it was found out she was pregnant, he tried to arrange to cover his sin by making it appear that her husband, Uriah, was the father. When that didn’t work, David hatched a conspiracy to have Uriah murdered so he wouldn‘t be around to tell folks that the new child wasn‘t his. This is a sad story. David lied to the whole nation and killed one of Israel’s finest warriors. He sinned against the nation. David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, sinning against her whole family, including her husband and children. David murdered Uriah, sinning against, not only him, but his mother and father, against his children and wife. David murdered Uriah by purposely having a portion of a battle go badly, murdering other fine men as well. Thus he sinned again against the whole nation. He sinned against the army by lessening their numbers and spoiling their moral. He sinned against every member of every family of each of the soldiers who were murdered that day. He involved his captains by ordering them to commit this conspiracy with him. There were hundreds David sinned against.

Yet, he said this in Psalm 51:4: “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.”

No matter what one has done and no matter to whom it was done, it is God Himself we have offended. If I steal, I offend against God so much so that He is the primary concern, not the human victim. And God hates it. In Psalm 5:5 we read, “Those who boast will not stand in the sight of Your eyes. You hate everyone who does iniquity.”

In Deuteronomy 32:39-42, God said, “’See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god beside Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand. For I lift up My hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever, if I sharpen My flashing sword and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and will repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh-- with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’”

The psalmist says in chapter 145, verse 20, “Yahweh preserves all who love Him, but the wicked He will destroy.”

In Romans 5:10 the unsaved are called God’s enemies. Paul said, “ For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.”

God expressed His hatred for sinners in Hosea 9:15, where the prophet records, “Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.”

Amos 5:21-24 has hatred from God written all over it. It is addressed to the religious who are disobedient to Him. God said, "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Does that NOT sound like a very personal thing between two people? That is to say between God and the sinner? You will NOT be a face in the crowd. He will know you and He will hate you as much as you hate Him. Only He can do something about it. And He will. It’s called Hell.

And God has three good reasons to hate each and every one of us personally. Look at verses 9 and 11 OF rEVELATION 14. Starting in the middle of verse nine, we read, “If any man worships the beast and his image and receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand even he himself will drink of the cup of the passionate anger of God…” Then we read the description of the punishment. And in verse 11 we read the same thing almost word for word. Starting in the middle it identifies those who will be punished as “… those who worship the beast and his image or if anyone receives the mark of his name.

So, where do we receive the mark of his name? On the forehead and on the hand. We sin in what we think and we sin in the things we do.

Proverbs 1:22-33 speaks of what God thinks of how we think. It says, “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at My reproof, behold, I will pour out My Spirit to you; I will make My words known to you. Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out My hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all My counsel and would have none of My reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon Me, but I will not answer; they will seek Me diligently but will not find Me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of Yahweh, would have none of My counsel and despised all My reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to Me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster."

Nothing is said in this passage about sins of doing. Only sins of the thought life. God hates what we think.

Then remember that the mark is on the hand. God hates the way we act. Look again at the judgment of the white throne in Revelation 20. Verse 13 says, “And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.” God hates the things we do. A specific thing that we do to earn God’s hatred is mentioned in the Revelation 14 passage. Those punished are those who worship the beast and his image. God hates natural man-made religion. Much is said these days about being “spiritual”. As long AS there's some sort of religion it’s good, it seems. Not in God’s eyes. He hates man’s religion. Going to church gains you no favor in God’s eyes. Rather, obedience does. Verse 12 says, “Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who are keeping God’s commandments and the faith of Jesus.” God hates what we do, including our religion.

In the passage there is a third reason for God to hate men. The passage mentions two types of men. There are those who worship the beast and in verse twelve there are those who keep God’s commandments and the faith given to mankind by Jesus. One sort of men will be damned and one sort will not.

Here is the point: GOD HATES THE KIND OF PEOPLE WE ARE. Even if we hadn’t sinned in our actions and even if we hadn’t sinned in our thoughts, He’d have plenty of reason to damn each and every one of us because of the kind of people we are. It isn’t just that our thoughts and deeds are evil. WE are evil! And that’s why our deeds are evil. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. We sin when we are drawn away by our lusts. We sin because we are sinful. Thus if we don’t have the chance to sin, we are still sinful. A red car is red even if everyone on the street is blind.

Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.”

In this passage we are called “helpless” in verse six. In verse 7 we are called implicitly “unrighteous”. And in verse eight we are called “sinners”. So we are unrighteous sinners, helpless to do anything about it. God hates us for what we are like.

God personally despises each and every one of us.

VII. Hell is certain.
In verses 9 and 10 we read, “If someone worships the beast…” and so on, concluding with “Even he himself will drink of the wine of the passionate anger of God…” and so on. And this is close to the way most translations render the passage. However, this doesn’t do justice to the Greek grammar. While it’s a good word-for-word translation, the syntax has a hidden message that an English speaker just doesn’t get. A sentence that comes in an if-then form is called a conditional sentence and every language has them. It’s like this: If my dog is hungry, I’ll feed him. Or: If the temperature too high, we will have to water the lawn. Conditional sentences usually speak of something of which we aren’t sure. That’s why there is the “if”. In Greek, though there are four classes of conditional sentences. One is like the ordinary English and speaks of something of which we aren’t sure. However, this sentence in verses 9 and 10 is called a First Class Condition in Greek grammar and it speaks of something we know will happen. Thus, accounting for the grammar, we could say truthfully, “Since someone will worship the beast…then we also know that exact one will drink of God’s passionate anger…”

In other words, hell is a certainty. We know it WILL happen because we know that many ARE sinners who have not and will not repent. In Ezekiel 16:20-29 we read what God had to say to Jerusalem about the spiritual adultery of that city:

And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered My children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood. "And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord Yahweh), you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke Me to anger. Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

Later in the same chapter of Ezekiel, God promises punishment. He is dead set on this punishment and He has it planned it down to individual punishments. I will list all the shalls and wills in all capitals to emphasize the doggedness of God’s determination in the matter. Here is Ezekel 16:37-42:

…therefore, behold, I WILL gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I WILL gather them against you from every side and WILL uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. And I WILL judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. And I WILL give you into their hands, and they SHALL throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They SHALL strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. They SHALL bring up a crowd against you, and they SHALL stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. And they SHALL burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I WILL make you stop playing the whore, and you SHALL also give payment no more. So WILL I satisfy My wrath on you, and My jealousy SHALL depart from you. I WILL be calm and will no more be angry. ESV.

In Exodus 23:7 God said, “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.” Hannah said in I Samuel 2:9, “He will guard the feet of His faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might will a man prevail.”

COMING UP:

VIII. Hell Is Appropriate and Measured. NO APPEAL.

EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF HELL FROM REVELATION 14--Part II

WHO HAS PURPOSED THIS AGAINST TYRE, THE BESTOWER OF CROWNS, WHOSE MERCHANTS WERE PRINCES, WHOSE TRADERS WERE THE HONORED OF THE EARTH? THE LORD OF HOSTS HAS PURPOSED IT TO DEFIE THE POMPOUS PRIDE OF ALL GLORY, TO DISHONOR ALL THE HONORED OF THE EARTH.
Isaiah the prophet, chapter twenty-nine, verses eight and nine.

Part 2 of 4 from Revelation 14:9-12

PREVIOUSLY COVERED:

I. Hell Is One of God's Great Passions. IN THE CROSS HAIRS.

II. Hell Is Punishment. NO EXCUSES.

III. Hell Is Public. THE DISPLAY OF THE DAMNED.

IV. Hell Is Permanent. NO BACK DOOR.
Not long ago, it was my job to remove welds inside a coal mill. The welds were overhead and the only tool I could use was an oxy-acetylene torch. For those of you who haven’t worked metal, an oxy-acetylene torch removes the steel by bringing it to melting temperature and actually burning the steel, some of which oxidizes and some of which simply melts and falls to the floor in red hot droplets. Therein lay the problem. I was between the floor and those tiny, molten balls falling from the fixture I was trying to remove. I was the foreman on the crew and it was a very time-sensitive job. What was I to do? I had no choice but to find a way to get this job done. And being the first day, I dare not tell one of my guys they needed to do this because I thought I was too good to do the dirty jobs along with them. So I had to do it. The droplets of fire rolled down my collar, into that little cup formed between the two inner ends of the collar bones, the top of the breast bone, and the bottom of my throat. I had to keep cutting. Because it was overhead, and because I had to reach up quite high with at least one arm to make the cut, I had molten steel going past the cuff of my gloves and into the sleeves of my protective welding coat at the wrist and rolling down to my elbow, where they burned into the flesh either at the side of my elbow where the muscles attach or just shy of the point of my elbow on the tender skin of the underside of my forearm. It hurt.

In such a situation, you can play a number of games to beat the pain. For one you can work as hard as possible and take a break every couple of minutes. I did that. For another, you can try to think of other things. I did that for a while. Even singing. Another thing you might try is to grunt in pain. Yes, I said “grunt”. Don’t cry out. That only intensifies the pain because you have given in. Instead, grunt like you’re angry. Fight the pain. For awhile that helped. In the end, I just was out of ways to do the job without just going through mind-boggling pain. The only thing that helped was to get out of there. If I had that sort of pain on an ongoing basis, I’d be insane. I can’t describe it.

In verse 11, we read, “And the smoke of their torment will go up forever, and they will not have rest day and night…”

In hell, you won’t have the chance to get out for a minute to let the burning coals cool and the pain lessen. You, no doubt, will try to find ways to endure. But you won’t. Try to play mind games. They won’t work for long. The pain will be too strong and too long. Try grunting. Try singing. Try thinking of soothing experiences you had as a youth or a young man. It won’t work for more than a few seconds--IF AT ALL. You can’t step out for a break. You can’t call someone to take your place.

Forever.

Take a second look at the passage. Notice the emphasis on eternity. Why did John, under orders of the risen Jesus, say it twice? Forever. Day and night. It must be important. When Jesus mentioned hell, He often made sure His hearers got that same message: Hell is permanent.

Matthew 18:8--If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble lop it off and cast it from you. It’s better to enter into this life crippled or lame than, with two hands and two feet, to enter into eternal fire.

Matthew 25:41--Then He will say also to those on the left, “Go away from Me, Cursed Ones, unto the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:46--And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

John 3:16--For God loved the world in such a way that He gave his one and only Son so that each one who believes won’t be destroyed, but have eternal life.

Notice John 3:16. “Be destroyed” is eternal. Something destroyed isn’t around anymore. It’s done. This is in contrast to the life eternal.

Unlike my little problem with the red hot falling steel droplets, hell is permanent. In the coal mill I had a little job. It was bearable because it would only last 30-45 minutes and I could get out of the pain any time I wanted. Not so with hell.

V. Hell Is Painful. NO RELIEF.
Look now to verses 10 and 11. There we read, “And he himself will drink of the wine of the passionate anger of God, poured out unmixed into the cup of the wrath of God, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will go up forever and they will have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image and if anyone receives the mark of his name.”

As we noted earlier Jesus often mentioned the permanence and forever nature of hell when He spoke of hell. However, never did He speak of Hell without directly mentioning the pain. And it isn’t little pain. In the coal mill, I got little spots burned. Not so in hell. Verse 11 speaks of the smoke of their torment, indicating a fire, not just some dots of hot metal on a few tender spots. Fire engulfs. It licks up the body just like a burger patty on a grill is heated all over and through and through. Jesus made mention of hell using Gehenna as a metaphor. Gehenna was the city dump. It was filled with not only trash, but the sewer of the community. It was where spoiled food was dumped. Spoiled meat. Excrement. Soiled, worn out clothes. It all went there. And it had to burn. It burned continually. It is here that we see what it means to perish or be destroyed in John 3:16. It isn’t annihilation. It is defilement, and destruction of all usefulness. If something was in Gehenna and not consumed by the flames, it would still be eternally ruined and polluted beyond any future redemption.

So it is with the human body and soul in hell. You will live, but you will wish otherwise. It is often said that the souls of the damned will be in hell, experiencing some sort of indescribable discomfort. The Scripture, however, makes sure to tell us that in the final state, even the damned will be given new bodies. Bodies, not for pleasure and life, but bodies that will be forever the vehicle that carries the soul into pain for the eternal ages. Revelation 20:11-15 says this:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.--ESV

Notice that all will be raised from the dead, but the damned will go to the lake of fire with bodies.

In a lake.

Of fire.

Jesus said the body would be involved in the pain in Matthew 10:28. We read, “Don’t fear those killing the body, but unable to kill the soul. Rather, fear the One able to destroy soul and body in Gehenna.”

Jesus made very clear the pain of hell two ways. First, He described it as fire and burning. Now many things hurt. Cuts hurt. Bruises hurt. Sprains hurt. Even broken bones hurt. But nothing hurts like fire. Cuts may be sharp and fast so that the pain is lessened by the quickness of the knife. Not so fire. Nothing quells the fire of the pain or the pain of the fire.

Second, He spoke of the pain by describing the response of those IN the pain. This is how Jesus spoke about the pain of hell:

Matthew 22:13--Then the King said to the attendants, “After you’ve bound them hand and foot, throw them out into outer darkness where there is the weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 24:45-51--Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.--ESV

Matthew 25:30--And throw out the worthless slave into outer darkness where is the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Interestingly, the term weeping is repeated many times along with the gnashing of teeth. The gnashing of teeth The gnashing of the teeth underlines extreme feeling. The gnashing of teeth is the result of either great anger or great pain. In hell, there will be extreme physical pain. Many of God’s judgment on this earth cause physical pain and death. Will there be reason for anger in hell? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. The vile creatures that will inhabit hell will be angry as they watch God, their tormentor, celebrating with His holy angels and saints. Before hell those who were on their way toward hell hated the God of Scripture. He is seen as mean in their minds. Just who does He think He is to tell them what to do? And just who are His people that tell them they are sinners! People are already mad at God. But in hell there will be two reasons that the anger will be ramped up severely.

First is the focus of the anger. Before hell, they didn’t have to look at, or think of, God all the time. Once in awhile one of His people would come and try to evangelize them, but most of the time the damned on earth remain undisturbed. In hell, however, each individual will see the God they hate. AND they will see Him doing the very thing for which they hate Him so. He will be ruling, forcing His holy will on every being in the universe and not asking anyone’s opinion about it.

But there will be a second, even harsher, reason for the anger of the damned. That is they will know every second of the rest of eternity just Who it is that threw them into the flames. It is the same God Who will be keeping them under the oppressive pain and judgment this moment, the next moment, and the next moment, and all the moments throughout eternity. HE is the one Who charged them with the crimes that put them in hell. HE is the one Who judged the case and found them guilty. HE is the one Who sentenced them. HE is the ONE!! And they will hate Him forevermore.

Then there is the weeping. This word can refer to simply weeping or to the tears that come from mourning great loss. Again, will not those in hell realize their loss just as much as the rich man who asked that Lazarus be sent to keep his family from experiencing the same? Of course they will. Forever. The rich man was tortured with his own pain AND with the impending loss that his children were about to suffer. Indeed, the soul in hell is without comfort, without wealth, and without companionship. He is lost forever. He has lost all that CAN be lost.

Finally, on the pain of hell, look again at an interesting word in verse 10, where we read, “He himself will drink from the wine of the passionate anger of God, poured out unmixed into the cup of His wrath…” Notice that word “unmixed”? Why did God say that? What is the wine? It’s the suffering. (That will be made clear when we get to the eighth characteristic.) The suffering of hell will be unmixed. It will be pure pain. Total torment. Nothing partial exists in God’s plan to punish the wicked. The experience of the damned won’t be lots of pain with a little humor. It won’t include compassion, or love, or comfort, or companionship, or delight, or any sort of pleasure. When I was in the coal mill and I ran out of the mind games to forget the pain, pain was almost all I could think of. In hell it will be all you ever experience.

The most excruciating pain ever known. Bone-deep hatred for your Captor and all that He has. Jealousy for those who don't share your fate. And the unending loss of everything, including your sanity--except just enough so that you will know where you are, what you're experiencing, and Who put you there. That’s all you'll have.

COMING UP:

VI. Hell Is Personal. GOD KNOWS YOU.

VII. Hell Is Certain. NO WAY OUT.

VIII. Hell Is Appropriate and Measured. NO APPEAL.