"Tenth, when we oppose evil and do good, we are functioning as the Lord's witnesses, thereby calling the society to account and setting a standard for others to follow. This, too, is part of our gospel calling. The reality is that, until Jesus returns, we will be in a tug of war with the world, sometimes making real progress and sometimes losing ground." - Dr. Michael Brown
Sigh. It is most certainly not our job to call society to account. That is God's job. The arrogance is overwhelming. Dr. Brown thinks that there are sneaky squid spirits and calls Benny Hinn a good brother in the Lord but he thinks he is capable of judging the nations, wow. What is worse, is he thinks God has called us to judge the nations. Bill Johnson. Kris Vallotton. Joseph Prince. The guy sitting next to you in church service checking his Facebook feed during the sermon. Brian Houston before he had to resign. Carl Lentz while he was cheating on his wife with the babysitter. None are righteous Dr. Brown! None seek after God! What part of scripture do you refuse to understand! Dear Lord and you think this is part of the gospel? The tug of war we will always be in until Christ returns is between us and the world in our lives - not that we have arrived and they have not so let me stick my nose into the details of their sin! We set a godly standard by living our lives according to scripture, like in the example above of the two case managers who used to work for me. We cannot "set a standard for others to follow" by demanding that they follow! What part of they think the things of God are foolishness do you not understand?
"But either way, we must keep our grip and maintain our resolve, wanting to hand things to the next generation in better shape than we received them while knowing that ultimate victory awaits the Lord's return. And while we also keep the Great Commission first and foremost in our hearts and minds, we recognize that Jesus didn't simply call us to win the lost but to make disciples.
This is how disciples live." - Dr. Michael Brown
Yes, but we cannot make disciples without first winning the lost. By removing the actual preaching of the gospel in favor of passing legislation, we never get to step two. Brown and his dominionist allies remind me of James and John from Luke 9 after seeing the Samaritan village reject Jesus. Did they respond with love and compassion? No. They asked if they should call down fire from heaven. Scripture says Jesus rebuked them much like Brown needs to be rebuked today for this in a never-ending line of writing designed to excuse his own idolatrous behavior. Brown may indeed mean well but that is no longer relevant. The unsaved are not our enemies. We are not at war with them. Even if we genuinely believe they are wrong on certain cultural issues our job is to represent Crist in our lives and present the gospel to them through the collective efforts of the church. There is no legislation that can save us as sinful human beings beloved. There are no judicial decrees that can save the human soul. By the way, the "nations" of the lost go beyond our carnal shores. Hating the outsider is not Christian either. Do not follow other men or place your faith in their solutions. Your lesser perceived evil is just your opinion and either way, at the end of the day, remains evil.
Reverend Anthony Wade - November 17, 2022
