“Old North Bridge” (today’s) in Concord, Massachusetts

Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

The British could not dampen the American patriotic spirit on April 19, 1775 in the second of the two local battles that started the American Revolution. What the British couldn’t do, our Federal Government could do. On October 12 my wife and I were nearby, but the government shutdown closed the site.

Message of the Month – A Personal Tribute to Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, died on October 3rd at age 86. Also seen as the founder of the “Calvary Chapel” movement, he should above all be remembered for his pivotal role in the “Jesus Movement”* of the late ‘60’s and early 1970’s.

Now, at that time I was starting my pastoral career in Indiana. We had heard about this movement but we mostly discounted it as weird and certainly not “of God,” with its guitars and hippies and stuff—about what you’d expect to happen in California! In July of 1970 my wife and I moved to Southern California to find ourselves in the middle of this movement as it peaked.

Quite skeptical, I attended a Monday evening gathering (such gatherings were often called “Jesus Meetings”) at Calvary Chapel in 1971. A mild but very uplifting period of simple and worshipful singing was followed by a l-o-n-g sermon by Chuck Smith on the Book of Revelation. Soon I would learn of his through-the-Bible teaching ministry that was the best thing that could happen for the thousands of converts in this movement. At the end of the service, hundreds stood and embraced and sang “The Lord’s Prayer.”

I should have left when the service ended! But Chuck had said that those who wanted the power of the Holy Spirit should stay for what they called the “afterglow” service. Most left. But some of the young adults from my own church stayed, so our associate pastor and I remained and sat in the back.

Lonnie Frisbee

In spite of this aberration, Chuck personally was a reasonable and moderating force on “Holy Spirit” issues.

Chuck always struck me as an exemplary servant of God with deep humility and simplicity. There was a time when every person on his staff took turns cleaning restrooms. I had a conversation with him one evening when I ran into him at a Christian bookstore. He was carrying out boxes of Bibles.

For the “Jesus” revival, he was the right man in the right place at the right moment. Conservative and yet very open, he molded his ministry to be effective with those God called him to reach. He knew what should be preserved and what should bend or change or be stopped. (When he arrived at his church once to find a “NO BARE FEET” sign posted, he threatened to tear out the new carpet rather than reject people. But even he said it tested him when hippies put those rubber communion cup holders on their toes!) If you attended a Sunday morning service at Calvary Chapel in the 70’s, you would find it similar to any typical Baptist church of the time.

His pastoral model has been a good one to follow in the face of other models (“pastors must be dynamic, visionary, challenging, etc.”) pushed upon us as “the gold standard.” His preaching style was a refreshing contrast to the self-focused, trendy, truncated preaching that is also a part of this “gold standard.”

I didn’t accept all his ideas. Too much on prophecy and its modern fulfillment. And his insistence that “Calvary Chapel” was not a denomination.

The Jesus Movement brought long-lasting change to the broader church, most obviously in Christian worship. In Chuck’s absence, the Calvary Chapel movement will certainly change, but how we don’t yet know.

I will always give thanks to God for the ministry of this man. I will honor him highly, for scripture says those who lead well “are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17).

* Wikipedia has a good and concise definition of the Jesus Movement:
The Jesus Movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture… The Jesus movement left a legacy of various denominations and other Christian organizations, and had an impact on both the development of the contemporary Christian right and the Christian left. “Jesus music”, which grew out of the movement, greatly influenced contemporary Christian music…

Religious Liberty Vigilance – Limiting “Bad” Religion?

But what if a neighbor’s religion sends preachers or missionaries to pick your pocket (through fraudulent fundraising, for instance) or even to break your leg? Or shoot you as an infidel? Or kill or imprison its own members if they want to change their faith to something else?

Jefferson covered those possibilities: “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.” Thus, Jefferson understood that, while the government must not attempt to suppress beliefs, there are reasonable limits government can place on religiously-motivated deeds. Freedom of belief is unlimited; freedom of action is not.

This is a belief/action dichotomy that is both necessary and dangerous. Necessary, in that the government has the duty to protect. Dangerous, in that the government can use its power to limit and even punish ordinary religious practices and convictions that don’t endanger anyone.

This power was applied in the 1878 “anti-polygamy” Reynolds v. U.S. decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court said that the government had a legitimate state interest in limiting the right to marry to monogamists. You can believe in polygamy all you want to; you just can’t practice it in American territories. [See a summary of this court case at the end of this newsletter.] Decide for yourself whether this “definition of marriage” decision was “Jeffersonian” or not.

If I understand Jefferson correctly, he would use extreme-case examples such as child sacrifice or religious ceremonies that consume food during a time of famine as occasions to limit free exercise of religion. To use a modern example, I may claim the faith to be healed and then reject medication for myself, but the government may step in and limit my free exercise of religion if my child has diabetes and I “claim a faith healing” and refuse him treatment.

The First Amendment bans any law that prohibits the “free exercise” of religion. Now, “exercise” of religion is “faith in action,” not just “faith.” To put it in Bible terms, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17 NIV). Anyone who is truly religious will “exercise religion.”

Government may rightfully limit religious activity that subverts the peace or violates good order (conservatively understood) or threatens the person or property of another. Government must not have the right to limit the free exercise of religious conviction that resists a governmental crusade to impose a statist social agenda (today it’s leftist ideology, tomorrow it could be right-wing) or to place an unnecessary burden on religion. Even a justifiable burden on the free exercise of religion should be laid as lightly as possible.

One more time. Jefferson said, “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others.” I believe Jefferson would be appalled at the governmental restrictions and attempted restrictions on the free exercise of religion that are growing today.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

November 2 – Speak on Police Chaplain service at a Grace Community Church men’s breakfast. The breakfast is at 8:30 at the new Malarkey’s Grill (located where Buster’s used to be at Seaport Village, just over the Marina St. bridge into Long Beach).

December 10 and 13 – Speak on the Book of Acts, chapter 11 at women’s Bible study groups at Grace Community Church.

Bible Insight: God’s Rules Are Higher than Man’s Rules

Creation Ethics: God created our bodies and surrounded us with an abundance of things we could enjoy or abuse.

“Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him “unclean” by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him “unclean.”’

“In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’”

– Mark 7:16 and 19 (NIV)

The great Moody Bible Institute is among the latest of Christian institutions to “lower the standard” by permitting its faculty to drink alcoholic beverages.

I’ve heard this kind of argument: “Drinking alcoholic beverages is not a sin. But since alcohol is so abused in our culture, Christians should abstain from it as a testimony to others that they don’t need this in their lives.”

On ethical questions I will sometimes shift the categories to other issues and test how an argument stands up. In this case, let’s switch the words from “drinking” to “having sex.” How would this argument sound? “Sexual relations between husband a wife are not a sin. But since sexual activity is so abused in our culture, Christian couples should abstain from it as a testimony to others that they don’t need this in their lives.”

What kind of a testimony is that? Spurning God’s good gifts (subject to much abuse, of course, by sinful people) in the name of higher spirituality or some notion of “witnessing”? Really, it is witnessing that’s sure to backfire!

This kind of thinking is a form of “Gnosticism.” Gnosticism, a trend in Christianity today and through much of its history, says that there is a higher spirituality found in the realm of the soul rather than the realm of the body. One way to experience this higher spirituality is through suppression of bodily appetites. Ultimately, full salvation involves an escape from the body and a flight into the realm of the spirit.

Gnosticism has been roundly condemned by Christian theology, but it pops up again and again in popular Christian attitudes toward “spirituality” and what “separation from the world” is all about. In early Christianity, the Apostle Paul warned against an incipient Gnosticism with these words:

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. …They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1, 3-5)

And Paul reminded one church prone to arguing over such matters (what a timely thought!): “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

Remember this: when a Christian or a church or Christian institution examines and changes the standard, if it goes from man’s standard to God’s standard then the standard has not been lowered. It has been raised.

A Verse and Hymn for Thanksgiving in November

“[God] has shown kindness
by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons.
He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
– Acts 14:17 (New International Version)

Fall foliage seen in Vermont this October

For the beauty of the earth For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
– Folliot S. Pierpoint (1864)

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Reynolds v. United States (1878) (Popularly known as the “Mormon polygamy” case)

Facts of the Case
George Reynolds, secretary to Mormon Church leader Brigham Young, challenged the federal anti-bigamy statute. Reynolds was convicted in a Utah territorial district court. His conviction was affirmed by the Utah territorial supreme court.

Question
Does the federal anti-bigamy statute violate the First Amendment’s free exercise clause because plural marriage is part of religious practice?

Conclusion
No. Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, writing for a unanimous court, held that the statute can punish criminal activity without regard to religious belief. The First Amendment protected religious belief, but it did not protect religious practices that were judged to be criminal such as bigamy. Those who practice polygamy could no more be exempt from the law than those who may wish to practice human sacrifice as part of their religious belief.

REYNOLDS v. UNITED STATES The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law

October, 1968 – The Beginning, 45 Years Ago

I (in the middle) was licensed to the Christian Ministry at the Grace Brethren Church of Elkhart, Indiana. I served there as Associate Pastor from then until July, 1970, when Mary and I moved to Long Beach, California for my first pastorate. There we raised our family and have lived ever since. From the earliest years I’ve often thought of ministry as having three phases: younger (25-40), middle (40-55) and older years (55-70+), each with its own characteristics. Supposedly now I’m in the “mature, wisest” years, but we do wonder. It has all gone by so fast!

Message of the Month – Justice Still Waits after Mass Murder (Seal Beach, California, Oct. 12, 2011)

“Justice delayed is justice denied”

– William Gladstone (19th century British politician)

“When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong”

– Ecclesiastes 8:11

October 12, 2011 seemed like another ordinary Wednesday, except it was an unusually hot day. People in Seal Beach were going about doing what they wanted to do or needed to do. For a few, this meant working at or visiting the Salon Meritage in “Old Town”, located about four blocks from the church I served as senior pastor.

Shortly after 1:00 p.m. the worst mass murder in Orange County history took place when eight people were shot to death there by Scott Dekraai.

As Seal Beach’s senior police chaplain, I hurried to the scene and spent most of the rest of the day there and invested many, many hours afterward. As a local minister, I officiated at the funeral for the salon owner and provided other services to the community.

Now, almost two years later, the trial scheduled to begin on November 4 has been postponed to March 24, 2014. It is not my point here to discuss the prosecution goals or the defense tactics. Nor do I need to use words like “suspect” or “accused” or “alleged killer”—terms which may be necessary in a judicial context but are not binding on the public.

My point here is to speak of justice for the families of the departed. “Closure” is, I doubt, an appropriate word here. But “milestones” are reached that help those most affected move forward in healing and other positive ways. One milestone was Seal Beach’s memorial event on the first anniversary, which was heavily attended by victimized families and at which some of them eloquently spoke. Another was the reopening of the salon last November.

The trial itself should be a further, significant milestone. As to the delay, the spouse of one murder victim said, “I’m not happy about it, obviously…it is very unfair to us.” The father of another victim told the judge, “The agony you are putting us through with delay after delay after delay, you don’t understand.”

Back to Ecclesiastes 8:11, one lesson is this: the slower the wheels of justice crank, the broader the disrespect for the rule of law and the rights of persons. In the context, the disenchanted author of Ecclesiastes laments the meaninglessness of life when righteous people get what the wicked deserve and the wicked get what the righteous deserve.

Injustice is inexplicable in a world that we believe is governed by a just and powerful God. Yet that’s the way life goes. The writer of Ecclesiastes, without mincing words of despair, does hold out hope which we should take to heart:

“Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow” (8:12-13).

Then a remarkable word of counsel: “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun” (8:15).

May God comfort and bless all who continue to hurt from the great crime.
May God bring to their lives a high measure of happiness and resolution.
And may justice come soon! – my prayer.

Please view these related news items:

• My comments at the large gathering in front of the salon on the evening after the murders. Click at “Message at Candlelight Vigil” at www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
• An interview on “How Grace Community Church served its community after the ‘Salon Massacre’ of October 12, 2011”. Click the site below these words at www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
• A news report and video on the reopening of the Salon Meritage (November, 2012): www.ocregister.com/articles/salon-378132-fannin-meritage.html

Religious Liberty Vigilance—California vs. Liberty

“On my honor, I will do my best
to do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake and morally straight.”
– The Boy Scout Oath

Belief in God* is a fundamental principle of the Boy Scouts. In 1993, the Boy Scouts, as a private organization, won a case upholding its right to enforce a religious principle in its membership standards (Welsh vs. the BSA, 7th District Court of Appeals; the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case).

Yet in California an attempt was made this year to strip tax exemption from the Boy Scouts and similar youth organizations that discriminate “on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or religious affiliation” (Senate Bill 323).

I don’t question the sincere intentions of supporters of this bill. I do question their unwillingness to accept diversity within America, including religious and moral diversity (not that there is no place or need for a common moral fabric).

I question the power of the state to do harm to organizations functioning legally, whose right to maintain their standards, whatever they are, has been upheld over and over up to the highest level.

I question the slanted argument that a tax exemption in these cases is a “reward” for discrimination.

I question the equivalence drawn between being tax exempt and being subsidized by the state. A tax exemption allows people to give to non-profit causes before other money is taxed and the tax goes to the state; a subsidy funnels money from the state to causes. A tax exemption recognizes the societal benefits accomplished when non-profit organizations do good things, usually better than the state could do them; a subsidy is a state bestowal of tax money to those who are doing what the state wants done.

I question the wisdom of punishing those with whom one disagrees in spite of the obvious overall good that these supposedly “disagreeable” organizations accomplish in the lives of many. The principle that asks, “What action will further the greater societal good?” argues against this punishment.

I question the logic of denying tax exemptions to public youth organizations while allowing tax exemptions to religious organizations that teach and practice exactly the same kinds of discrimination. In reality, there is no logic and, as surely as night follows day, we can expect future efforts to strip tax exemptions from religious organizations which do not embrace “The Doctrines of The State” nor do its bidding.

Senate Bill 323 has been laid to rest this year because it lacked critical support in the legislature. As surely as Dracula leaves his coffin at sunset, it will be back next year.

* “Belief in God” in this case does not require embracing any particular creed, such as the “Trinity” belief of the Christian Faith.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

October 1 (6:30 p.m.) and October 4 (9:30 a.m.) – Speak to women’s Bible study groups at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach Topic: Acts 2 (The Day of Pentecost)

October 5 – Give “start-off prayer” at the 5K “Walk Like MADD” fundraising walk for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (8:30 a.m. at Long Beach’s Granada Beach)—information: (310) 215-2913

October 20 – Speak on local Grace Brethren history at Los Altos Grace Brethren Church in Long Beach (9:00 Sunday School class)

October 27 – Speak in Sunday Morning Worship Services (8:00, 9:30, 11:00) at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach Topic: Being People God Uses—Right Here, Right Now!

November 2 – Speak on police chaplaincy ministry at Grace Community Church’s men’s breakfast (8:30 at Malarkey’s Restaurant)

Bible Insight: Baptism and Repentance

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
(Acts 2:38 NIV)
(Picture: Summer baptism in the Pacific Ocean, Grace Community Church of Seal Beach. How many churches get to have an ocean in their backyard?)

Baptism and Communion, two sacraments God has given to his church, have been minimized in many an evangelical church. Someone recently said, “Communion should be called a ‘snack-rament’ the way many observe it!”

In New Testament times, as you see from the Apostle Peter’s words above, repentance, turning in faith to Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit were not separated from baptism.

Acts 2:38 leaves unsettled the question whether baptism is the essential cause of forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Spirit or their accompanying sign. Acts 10:44-48 helps us clear up that question. At the home of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, the Holy Spirit came on the people before they were baptized, not because they were baptized (read the whole wonderful chapter). Instead, Peter called for baptism because they had received the Holy Spirit.

So baptism is not the effective cause of forgiveness and the gift of the Spirit, but it is not separated from these grace-gifts either (Peter would say, “Not baptizing these converts right away is a failure that opposes the work of God.”). To say it another way, they were “saved” neither through baptism nor without baptism.

Baptism is thus distinguishable from cleansing but not separated from cleansing. As St. Augustine said, “The outward sign of an inward grace.”

When churches and individuals introduce a big time-lapse between conversion and baptism, they bring confusion into the whole dynamic. They may wonder why scriptures on conversions don’t seem to make sense. It’s like exchanging the wedding rings months or years after the ceremony. You can’t say, “With this ring I thee wed.” This confusion may also come if baptism precedes faith and repentance by many years. Hence, “believer baptism”.

And no, you shouldn’t put off baptism just to wait to be baptized in the ocean!

Yet, this time-lapse is what we have allowed to happen. Many churches have the “walk-forward altar call” sacrament-like tradition in the place that baptism should fill. But biblically speaking, it is in our baptism that we make the confession, “Jesus is Lord!”

Let’s get back to the biblical theology and examples and make baptism what it was intended to be—part of the majestic drama of the Holy Spirit we call “conversion.” As Ananias said to Saul (later, as known to us, “The Apostle Paul”), “Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his [the Lord’s] name” (Acts 22:16).

“Prophets are Good for Business”
(Applying Biblical Principles to Work Situations)

[Because of the length of other features, this will resume at a later time.]

A Bible Text for October – Psalm 85:11-12

Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Religious Liberty Vigilance –
Ignorance of Religious Rights

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
– 1st Amendment (Our “First Freedom” in the Bill of Rights)

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”
– Attributed to Thomas Jefferson and others

This is scary. Most don’t know our religious freedom rights. Many wouldn’t agree with them if they did.

One-third of Americans think the First Amendment “goes too far” in the rights it guarantees (its five great freedoms are: religious freedom, freedom of speech, a free press, right of assembly and right to petition the government). That’s up greatly from 13% the year before, which is still too high (the great shift raises questions about how it was determined).

Whereas religious freedom is our first liberty in the First Amendment, Americans value free speech (47%) over religious liberty (10%). And only 24% of Americans recognized religious liberty as one of our five freedoms.

I find two disturbing cultural trends. First, we hear people in government speak of “freedom of worship” rather than “freedom of religion”. Freedom to worship as you wish is vital, but by itself it truncates religious freedom. Freedom of religion includes the right to speak your faith and practice your faith outside the walls of worship and out into the broader culture without government repercussion.

Second, when you start talking specific issues and policies that might hinder religious liberty, the general public is more likely to side with advocates of an issue or policy than with religious institutions or individuals who have religion-rooted objections to it and don’t want to be forced to violate their consciences.

Ken Paulson, President of the First Amendment Center at the Newseum Institute, rightly says, “It’s important to recognize that our core freedoms, regardless of their relative popularity, complement and reinforce one another. Unless we daily reaffirm our right to America’s core liberties and speak out against government encroachment upon any of them, our collective freedom is at risk. ‘United we stand’ is not just a motto.”

[To review the survey, go to Paulson’s commentary at: www.firstamendmentcenter.org]

“Prophets are Good for Business”
(Applying Biblical Principles to Work Situations)

God’s Special Day Should Affect Every Other Day –
Sabbath-keeping (part 4)

“‘When will…the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?’ – skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.” – Amos 8:4-6 New Int’l. Version

I heard once that the “Post-It” note idea was thought up by a man while he sat in the choir loft during church services. True or not, imagine this—turning business ideas around in your mind while you should be listening to the sermon or joining in on worship! The prophet Amos was as frustrated as any modern preacher when he thought about how people would ponder business matters during hours that should be most sacred.

It gets worse! Amos tells what they will be pondering: how to cheat customers, take advantage of the poor and needy and compromise their products for profit’s sake. So Sabbath observance had no effect on how they would live the other six days of the week. The reason is, they were not really “thinking Sabbath”—letting its meaning get deep into their hearts.

“Thinking Sabbath” will remind us we cannot separate what we do and think on the one day of worship from what we do and think on the six other days. Worshipping God in church cannot disconnect from our business dealings, our ethical management and our dutiful service to our employer or employees on Monday.

Show me a man or woman who truly “keeps the Sabbath” and I’ll show you a man or woman who treats customers well, is honorable with money, works at business ethically and keeps his or her word.

Bible Insight: Forgiveness—What Does God Require?

“Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.”
(Luke 11:4—Jesus’ teaching in “The Lord’s Prayer”)

I conducted the funeral for one of the victims of Orange County California’s worst mass murder—eight slain on October 12, 2011. In that sermon I said, “I do not believe in unconditional forgiveness.”

A funeral director present who also was a Christian was so surprised and amazed at my words that he sent me an email!

I realize that this position is not the thinking du jour. But Jesus taught it! Forgiveness from God is conditioned on our generous willingness to be people of forgiveness (Matthew 6:12). If we exhaust the steps of reconciliation in trying to restore one who has sinned against us, that person is to be expelled from the church (Matthew 18:15-18). The church is thus to exclude, not forgive. If the one who wronged us repents, we are to forgive (Luke 17:3-4).

And we are to forgive “just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). God’s forgiveness is not without satisfaction of his justice. Jesus Christ satisfied God’s justice as a sacrifice for our sins. Nor does God’s forgiveness come without repentance before God on our part.

The thinking du jour about forgiveness is this: when someone sins against us we should immediately forgive that person in our hearts.

The argument goes, why should you allow the villain to score a double victory against you? He sins against you. Then you allow his deed to eat away inside you, filling you with spite and bitterness. So you “forgive in your heart” for your sake! Forgiveness, then, is an internal thing, a form of self-therapy. It is not primarily a relational thing—something extended to another (that true forgiveness involves the heart is not to be denied).

Leave it to American Christians to turn a principle on relational restoration into a therapeutic principle of how to care for the self! But hey, we already did that when we turned the altruistic Second Great Commandment into a self-love motivator (“You can’t ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ until you first learn to love yourself.”).

No, we certainly ought not let a wrongdoer’s wicked deed eat us up inside. That’s why Scripture also says, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” and, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Ephesians 4:26, 31).

But this is not what it means to “forgive in your heart.”

Jesus’ followers are to forgive as God does—generously, willingly, readily, repeatedly, and taking the initiative with the wrongdoer. This may require restitution (or circumstances may call for a release from what is owed). It certainly requires genuine remorse and repentance by the wrongdoer.

Anything less is not God’s forgiveness working in us.

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

October 27 – Speak in Sunday Morning Worship Services at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (8:00, 9:30, 11:00)

• September 1 – Children’s Ministry starts its fall Sunday School schedule.
• September 8 – Sign-ups for one or more of the many “Life Group” ministry opportunities at Grace.
• September 15 – Open House for the redecorated Children’s Ministry area on the church’s third floor.
• September 22 – Baptismal Service
• September 29 – World Impact Sunday as we commission a new missionary—our own Renee Robitaille; Women’s Charity Luncheon

Message of the Month – “Fish Wars” (Science vs. Religion)

The “Fish Symbol” is an old, old symbol of Christianity. It became popular again in the 1960’s through what was then known as “The Jesus Movement.”

Sometimes the fish symbol will take on unusual characteristics, like a fish swallowing “Darwin” or “truth” eating the fish. I call these silent communicators (on the back of cars typically) “fish wars.” I took the above picture of a nearby car when I parked one day at 24-Hour Fitness.

“It’s not rocket science” to see what is intended. Science supplants religion. Science knows. Science is what really gets us places. So they say.

I can’t explain the science/religion debate in a short space. But here’s a capsule of my views. Science speaks on intermediate issues. Religion speaks on ultimate issues. For example, science can explain the “food chain” but only faith can tell us this:

These [sea and land creatures] all look to you [God]
to give them their food at the proper time.
When you give it to them, they gather it up.
When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
(Psalm 104:27-28)

Another example: science can discover and theorize about tectonic plates. Faith teaches the ultimate truth:

May the Lord rejoice in his works—
He who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
(Psalm 104:31-32)

By faith we see an ultimate—a Creator God who made all things and governs them by his word and power. And he has graciously given us a “care manual.”

Jesus taught us, “Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). One lesson we learn from this is that we need to look at life’s possibilities from two directions: (1) what we can do (what science has made possible, like how to grow the best wheat for bread) and (2) what we should do (doing right instead of wrong). Nazi experimenters lived by the can but not by the should.

And this brings us back to the rocket. Science enables us to launch a rocket (or fly a drone) and guide its payload to its intended target. Values from faith guide us to decide whether delivering that payload to its target is the right thing to do.

Pity the one who says, “I look to science for my answers.” For science can never teach us the difference between right and wrong or answer ultimate issues of purpose and meaning in life.

And when one thinks “the power to do” gives “the right to do,” pity anyone this person controls!

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Please Support Meaningful Immigration Reform—
Reform that “does justice” and “loves mercy” (Micah 6:8).
Reform that keeps families together.
Reform that will keep borders secure and safe.
Reform that has a pathway to legal status or citizenship for those willing to pay the penalty, be responsible, and put out the effort.

Addendum: The Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC

On August 28, the 50th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, I sent out widely a commentary on the meaning of his life and work.

His Washington memorial is an interesting study (start with Wikipedia)—it created many controversies. One was over the quote (partially visible below),

“I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness”. King actually didn’t say that and it doesn’t reflect the context of what he did say. It is now being removed (the federal government has figured out how to make it cost $700,000 to $900,000 to do that).

Another valid criticism is over the un-King-like absence of religious comments and biblical statements in the 14 inscriptions around the statue.

One quote from 1955 comes close, but no one without a biblical background would catch it: “We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” The reference to justice as water and righteousness as a stream comes from Amos 5:24.

Was this elimination of the religious and biblical foundation for King’s work intentional? Or was it a natural oversight due to the ongoing secularization and marginalization of religion in our culture? Neither is a good thought.

Please contact me (via “REPLY”) if you did not receive my King commentary and wish to read it.

“The Kingdom of God is no longer identified with any geopolitical kingdom on earth. It is no longer the era of driving the nations out of God’s holy land but of living side by side with unbelievers in charity. It is the hour of grace, not judgment.” – Michael Horton, The Christian Faith

Don’s Upcoming Ministries

October 27 –

“Prophets are Good for Business”

(Applying Biblical Principles to Work Situations)

Care for the “Alien in the Land” – Sabbath-keeping (part 3)

“The reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster [a political party but] to fix a system that’s broken. Good policy yields good politics.” – George W. Bush

If we eat fruit or vegetables grown in the U.S., the likelihood is very high that they were picked by immigrant workers, many undocumented.

Immigration issues arise naturally from what I might call “Sabbaththinking.” On the Sabbath Day, “you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” (Exodus 20:10 New International Version, emphasis mine)

Protecting the non-Israelite who lived in the land from exploitation in the workplace or other situations is a common theme of the Old Testament.

Here are some examples:

• “You are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” – Deuteronomy 10:19
• “Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.” – Deuteronomy 24:14
• “Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.” – Deuteronomy 24:14
• “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” – Deuteronomy 24:19
• “When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.” – Deuteronomy 26:12 (That was a mandated “benefit”, folks!)
• “Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.” – Deuteronomy 27:19

I would not call for all the details of the Mosaic Law that regulate and protect “the alien” to be implemented by a modern government just because they are found in the Bible. I would call for us to look for “the spirit of the law” (the social values) to be found in these commands.

The workplace, governmental policies, and social attitudes toward immigration—all need to be informed by biblical teaching, more than by any other source or standard.

• I personally support the bill passed by the U.S. Senate (SB744).
• I personally am concerned by many in the House of Representatives who seem to favor a harsh response to undocumented immigrants.
• I fail to see how “amnesty” or “reward” are appropriate terms to describe the process undocumented immigrants will have to follow (under various proposals) in order to become “legal” or citizens way down the road.

I would be the last to claim that SB744 or any other bill Congress debates is “God’s bill.” But I can favor a bill that moves in strong incremental ways toward what I think is right.

“Sabbath-thinking” leads to immigration reform. “Do justice, love mercy” (Micah 6:8) is God’s call—for immigration reform or many other great social debates.

Religious Liberty Vigilance—Can Business Be Religious?

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

– 1st Amendment (Our “First Freedom” in the Bill of Rights)

“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical.”

– Thomas Jefferson (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom)

Rodney and Karen Mersino own and operate a business in Michigan. As committed Catholic Christians, they objected to having to participate in the contraception mandate that is part of the new health care program commonly called “Obamacare.”

They filed suit against Health and Human Services. A federal court judge in Michigan refused to give the Mersino’s a preliminary injunction.

It is not my intention to speak on the legal aspects of this decision. But I do want to raise a concern about one statement by the court: “The fact that its owners may hold deep religious beliefs, and that the mission statement of the company includes a statement of fealty to God, does not convert this secular, for profit company into a religious organization capable of exercising religion…”

Cannot a secular business set forth ethical ideals and then be able to practice them? Why should it matter if some of these ideals have roots in biblical values or Christian convictions?

This should not be an unlimited right. But the shoe is on the wrong foot. The state should have to prove a “compelling state interest” in limiting the exercise of religious convictions. Then the state should have to demonstrate that its remedy is narrowly tailored and the least burdensome to religious freedom.

The owners of a business have to show in what way a government requirement offends their religious convictions. But the real burden of proof should lie with the government.

Message of the Month –
Care of God’s Creation

Among the many desecrations of God’s Country is the growing amount of graffiti one sees on popular trails in lower elevations. This picture is from a recent hike on the Echo Mountain trail above Pasadena—one of my favorite hikes. The trail is heavily travelled—too much so, apparently. This picture shows one of several defacings of rock along the trail. To add insult to injury, it happens to be at a shady spot where I always pause for a break when hiking uphill. Trail signs have graffiti. Historical markers can’t be read. Much of this I’ve not seen on previous hikes.

Here’s a slogan along the Sturdevant Falls Trail in the San Gabriel Mountains. Non sequitur that it is, it still has its appeal.

God has made us stewards of his beautiful handiwork called “Earth.” “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth…'” (Genesis 1:26).

This is not a selfish, exploitative stewardship—certainly not a desecrating one. It is a caring, careful stewardship that uses, not abuses, and recognizes that those who follow us will want to enjoy and benefit from the earth as we did.

As I write this, I’m wearing this T-shirt:

Let’s do it!

The Bible’s word on our stewardship is undergirded by two foundational points: (1) the Earth is God’s, not ours, and (2) the God who made all things at the beginning will be present to judge us on the Last Day and call our stewardship to account.

So I’d suggest a stronger, better message than that philosophically materialist one on the Sturdevant Falls Trail:

TAKE CARE OF THE LAND
SOME DAY YOU WILL ANSWER TO THE OWNER!

Happy Trails to you!

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com