Category Archives: The Blog

Hebrew Exceptionalism

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Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:12-16

Moses seems to be concerned that God will stop manifesting Himself in the visible way that He has. He is making the case with God that Israel is different than all the nations of the earth because He goes with them. After all, they just finished dumping God and Moses for a golden calf. He would understand if God wanted to walk out on them.

I understand this very reasonable fear. There was a time when many Americans thought that ours was a Christian nation. That may have been presumptious, or maybe it was something we aspired to, but we are clearly not that now. It would be a good time to remember that judgment begins in the house of the Lord.

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.C)” data-cr=”#cen-ESV-11340C” style=”box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;”> Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

It is well past time for us to humble ourselves and realize that God’s absence in our nation is our fault. We have our own golden calves, our materialism and pursuit of pleasure, that has replaced the God who made us and sustains us.

Hebrew Exceptionalism

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Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” Exodus 33:12-16

Moses seems to be concerned that God will stop manifesting Himself in the visible way that He has. He is making the case with God that Israel is different than all the nations of the earth because He goes with them. After all, they just finished dumping God and Moses for a golden calf. He would understand if God wanted to walk out on them.

I understand this very reasonable fear. There was a time when many Americans thought that ours was a Christian nation. That may have been presumptious, or maybe it was something we aspired to, but we are clearly not that now. It would be a good time to remember that judgment begins in the house of the Lord.

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.C)” data-cr=”#cen-ESV-11340C” style=”box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; top: 0px;”> Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

It is well past time for us to humble ourselves and realize that God’s absence in our nation is our fault. We have our own golden calves, our materialism and pursuit of pleasure, that has replaced the God who made us and sustains us.

The Golden Calf

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When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Exodus 32:1-6

It seems incomprehensible that the people could be so stupid. Their own eyes have beheld the great and miraculous power of God. They eat every day the manna from Heaven. And now they are making an idol and ascribing all these deeds to IT. How can this be possible??

Then I look around and see foolishness in full flower all around me. We seem to believe we can make up our own morality on the fly. We invent genders at a whim. Lawlessness is now tolerance. And none of this bubbled up from the bottom ladders if society. This is the doing of our most educated and esteemed among us. This is the condition of sinful mankind, and it is not new, nor have we outgrown it.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Romans 1:21-23

The Golden Calf

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When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.E)” data-cr=”#cen-ESV-2443E” style=”font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; vertical-align: top;”> And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Exodus 32:1-6

It seems incomprehensible that the people could be so stupid. Their own eyes have beheld the great and miraculous power of God. They eat every day the manna from Heaven. And now they are making an idol and ascribing all these deeds to IT. How can this be possible??

Then I look around and see foolishness in full flower all around me. We seem to believe we can make up our own morality on the fly. We invent genders at a whim. Lawlessness is now tolerance. And none of this bubbled up from the bottom ladders if society. This is the doing of our most educated and esteemed among us. This is the condition of sinful mankind, and it is not new, nor have we outgrown it.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Romans 1:21-23

Rules for Christians

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I am working on a series right now because I finished reading Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life: an antidote to chaos,” and I thought there should be something similar for Christians. Dr. Peterson is striking a nerve with young people. I believe it is because he is fulfilling the role of a father to many kids who have distant or absent fathers who have either abdicated their role or been marginalized by a society that is hostile to manhood.

In my case, I am speaking to issues in the church as to why we have failed to impact our world to the degree that we should have. American Christians seem to be a lukewarm to flat-out cold group of believers. We seem unaware that we need to be warned against falling away. This is largely because our current religious rulers are afraid to do it. At such times in history, God sends the prophet, who is usually some bedraggled outsider who is seen as unqualified by the leaders. Am I that person? I don’t know, but until he shows up, I’m what you’ve got