Our God Reigns

This sermon was preached on the day that we celebrated Bill Bell's 100th birthday. Bill was sitting in the audience - a testimony to the incredible changes in many nations over the course of one lifetime. Bill has lived through two world wars, the rise and fall of the Third Reich, the beginning and end of the Soviet Union and world wide changes in colonialism, racial relations, and women's rights. During his lifetime the U.S.A. experienced the roaring twenties and the Great Depression.

The point of Isaiah chapters 13 and 14 is that God is not threatened by the rise and fall of any nation. The nations serve his purposes to accomplish his will. He will fulfill his promises.

Sam Harris & The Demagogues

I love Sam Harris. He is smart. He is well spoken. He is a thinker. He is ironic and sarcastic and sees the humor in things. I really enjoy listening to his presentations and debates and interviews - even though I disagree with him on almost everything - certainly on his atheism.

One of the ironic things about Sam Harris is that he is often agreeing with people about principles even though he despises the people with whom he is agreeing. He agrees with people of faith that it is important to have universal moral principles and that Islam is not a religion of peace - but he despises people of faith. In various contexts I have heard him say something like, "...it is unfortunate that the only people who agree with me on this are religious demagogues."

I am pretty sure that he means that people of faith are coming to their conclusions through ignorance and prejudice, while he is coming to his conclusions through well reasoned argument. Fair enough. I think he can probably find many examples of ignorance and prejudice among religious peoples around the world.

I would make the point, however, that just because a view is held by people who are ignorant or prejudiced does not mean they are wrong about that view. One proof is the fact that Sam Harris sometimes agrees with the views of demagogues he despises and disagrees with the secularists that he identifies with.

On the other hand, just because Sam Harris is a scientist, it does not mean that he himself is not a demagogue. He preaches his anti-theistic views with as much demagoguery as anybody. Certainly he cannot argue that he is not prejudiced in his approach to every question. He is. He approaches everything from his own worldview presuppositions. Anything that does not fit is excluded.

As for ignorance (not to be confused with a lack of intelligence) Sam Harris makes errors even in his public presentations. He evidently subscribes to a long discredited theory of cultural evolution in which he sees non-western cultures as "primitive." He also seems to believe that people a mere 2,000 years ago were somehow less evolved than humans today - not able to reason as well as he is. (I'm sure he knows this is completely false even according to evolutionary science - but he treats people of those time periods and earlier as if they were idiots and very gullible.)

Then there is his faith. He has faith that there is no God. He has faith that matter and energy are eternal - they never came into existence. He has faith that natural processes and principles turned an explosion into the universe and eventually brought about life. He has faith that macro-evolution existed and brought about the incredible diversity and complexity of life we observe today.

So, when he preaches his messages, Sam Harris is also a demagogue. He sees himself as brilliant and people who disagree with him as idiots. He does not believe in God - any god. Morality is relative - depending on utility. There is no sin. There is no ultimate justice. There is no hell and no eternal life.

He believes, and so he teaches. But this is demagoguery - not proof.

Praise God

God was sending the Assyrians to punish Israel for their rebellion and idolatry. It was a terrible time of fear and dread. But God had promised an ultimate deliverance too. God would eventually send his Savior who would deliver his people and establish an eternal kingdom. This is the hope that could carry people through the difficult times.

Sermon In A Sack - Shoelaces

This message was helped by seven little boys who were (mostly) excited to participate. They know something about shoelaces and shoes.

Beheadings and Atrocities As Evangelism?

For most of us the ISIS organization seemed to appear out of nowhere. Suddenly they were sweeping over Iraq and conquering cities. Suddenly they were there and they declared themselves to be a Caliphate - the successors to Mohammed as the rightful leaders of the umma - the whole Islamic community.

Not only was it sudden, but it was shockingly brutal! Since they represent the true Islamic community, anyone who resists them should be killed. So they have slaughtered thousands - mass executions of prisoners, crucifixions, beheadings, and rape are part of their repertoire.

Not only do they do these things, but they broadcast them through social media. In particular, they recorded the beheadings of two American journalists along with a message of defiance against American airstrikes in Iraq.

So what is this all about? Why are they so brutal and so exibitionist in their atrocities?

For one thing, they are modeling themselves on the Islamic movement under Mohammed and the original Calphs that followed him. What they are doing is pretty much identical to the approach of early Islam as they swept through the Middle East, across North Africa and Spain. The severe brutality of their treatment of conquered peoples tended to increase "conversions" and reduce opposition.

Another thing they are doing is recruiting people to their cause.  For Moslems who live in secular countries (even the Moslem majority secular countries) this Caliphate is a promise of a return to the golden days of Islamic expansion and the promise of Islamic world domination. For them, this is the promise of a utopia where people all live under strict sharia law and justice for lawbreakers is swift and severe. For them the end justifies the means and participation in this fight is submission to God that will be rewarded in the next life.

This Caliphate is attractive to some who are jaded by American hyper-individualism and the constant pursuit of pleasure. The Caliphate offers community and a simple path to transcendent purpose in life - even if it requires brutality against the infidels.

How sad that American Christianity has been so absorbed into American individualistic "good times" culture that these nascent Islamists have not learned the true Christian path to transcendent purpose in life by following the call to love God; to love our enemies; to love our neighbors; and to love each other - as God has loved us in providing salvation through Jesus Christ.

The King Is Coming

Isaiah lived in times of international instability. The Assyrians were on the march and the nations in their path were not sure what they should do. Could they make peace? Should they prepare to fight?

Isaiah says, "You don't need to worry about the Assyrians. You need to think about God. He is sending his own son as the eternal king. Will you make peace with him, or fight?"