The devil’s basic doctrine
For some reason, I’m still receiving Christian News. I expected to receive it in the weeks leading up to the convention, but I figured that it would stop showing up shortly thereafter. I subscribed to CN for several years, but grew weary of it.
Theologically speaking, it’s quite good; however, it is a bit repetitive, sort of like a blunt force assault. Rev. Otten knows a few notes, and while many are quite good, he just plays them over and over and over and over and over. And when some of those notes are more political & less theological… well, it makes sifting through the wheat & chaff even more laborious a task.
Anyhoo, I’m still getting CN, and in the most recent (Oct 01, 2007) issue there was a book review that was really quite good. In particular, at least for the purposes of this posting, the review of Rev. Siegbert Becker’s Revelation — The Distant Triumph Song yielded this nugget:
“The basic doctrine of the devil is salvation by works.”
That quote just jumped out at me & made me think. And after thinking on it for a bit, I realized just how accurate it is.
Satan is far too wily & crafty to lead folks astray by boldface lies & statements that are clearly in opposition to Scriptural Truth. No, he is far more effective when he just twists the truth ever so slightly. By doing so in a way that appeals to our sinful, fallen intellect, he can lead us away from God’s Truth. Even as we might think that we are following that truth, we are instead following the idol of our own thinking & making.
We want nothing more than to think we can fulfill the Law. Man has always wanted to be complicit in his own salvation. Sin has corrupted us such that we would, however subtly, reject that which God has freely given us as the only source of salvation — Jesus on the cross.
This is why Martin Luther was correct in identifying Justification as the doctrine on which the Church stands or falls. If Justification by faith alone is not true, then the devi’s basic doctrine is correct and all is lost.
Thanks be to God that such is not the case!
-ghp
Despair
Despair is a horrible thing — I think we can all agree on that.
I’ve been in a particularly wretched mood today. The kind of a day & mood when every little thing is a struggle, even (especially?) when you know that it’s something that needs to be done. Going to church was a struggle, where only my obligation to “elder” was enough to get me there (though it wasn’t enough for me to properly execute my vocation as head-of-household, but like I said, it wasn’t the best of days…). The LORD more than made it worthwhile, graciously serving me with His gracious gifts via a faithful undershepherd’s execution of TLH p.15. There was also a reminder of how God gives us opportunities to serve our neighbors. Despite all that good stuff, I still felt Satan nipping at my heels…
Even as I was stuck in the wretched mood of, let’s be honest, despair, I still had a certain sense of detachment in which I was able to analyze it. To be honest, I wasn’t all that happy about the detachment, as it fed somewhat back into the loop, adding some feelings of guilt. It’s just how I am. But I digress…
My analysis was this: Perhaps the worst part of despair is that it is so selfish. At its worst, despair can drive someone to think/believe that others would be better off without them - we’ve heard/read examples of this time & time again. It’s almost always not true. In point of fact, however, that is merely selfish window dressing - it’s sin in the form of trying to rationalize a way to stop one’s own pain. Acting out of despair inevitably causes more pain that could ever be imagined. It ends up destroying not only the individual, but also those around the individual. That’s gotta be why it’s such a favorite tool of Satan.
Goodness knows that I eagerly anticipate God calling me home, for I am secure in the hope that Christ won for me on the cross. There are days where I struggle with what faces me in this life. And I don’t even have that difficult of a life… I’ve been incredibly blessed, but sin has a way of insinuating itself into the very fabric of our being, such that we willingly lose sight of that which God has so graciously given us.
The Psalms are a wonderful source of strength & solace during times of despair. They contain such powerful descriptions of joy & despair that it’s impossible not to find comfort in them. The Psalmist obviously felt the same type of almost manic highs & lows as I/we do. During moods like today’s, I can almost feel the old & new Adams in me battle in hand-to-hand combat. In the same thought, I can go from heart-bursting joy in God’s love for me (“Christ died that I might live” , shouts the new Adam) to soul-crushing guilt from being such a weak & cravenly selfish creature (“How dare I be so ungrateful in the face of God’s gracious Will - I’ll never be worthy!” retorts the old Adam).
I’m about done with trying to reasonably articulate all this right now. I’ll close by saying that I think one way out of funks like that which hit me today is to try to, in whatever small way possible, focus on helping someone else. One of Satan’s greatest tactics is getting us to turn ever more inward. God put us here to serve our neighbors.
Isolation is never a truly good thing. May God bless me by helping me to always understand that.
-ghp
(who, at the moment, is feeling better…)
Sanctioned Tobacco Hypocrisy
I don’t smoke. I don’t like secondhand smoke. I would prefer it if folks didn’t smoke, both for my benefit, and for their own.
I think it’s a crock that smokers who get ill sue the tobacco companies. I think tobacco companies are held to an unfair standard in a great many ways, as they are producing & selling a legal product.
If smoking is truly that bad, dangerous, and (as some would contend) evil, then it should be clearly outlawed; however, that, as we all know, will never happen.
Why not?
Because the government is more addicted to tobacco taxes than smokers are to nicotine.
George Will writes about this in his most recent column, States walk a fine line on tobacco. He does a nice job of outlining the hypocrisy that currently exists in our system, where that which is demonized is also depended on as a revenue stream.
“Sin” taxes are all well and good, if/when the desire is to eliminate the undesirable behavior. Once the revenue they generate becomes expected, nay demanded, however — then there’s a problem, and the tax then becomes, IMO, more objectionable than the behavior/activity it’s purportedly punishing.
-ghp
Newsflash: Evil *Does* Exist!
Well, I guess that some folks really do need to see things for themselves and/or learn things the hard way. It seems that the ELCA pastor of the BTK killer is now stating that he (the pastor) has changed his (the pastor’s) theology as it pertains to evil. Pastor Michael Clark has, in a recent interview, denounced the way “we psychologicalize evil in this world, and we explain it and justify it in psychological language.” Later, he states, “But I am convinced from what I have been through that there is definitely an evil force out there that is viable, and it’s something we need to know about.”
Now, this is most definitely an improvement in theology; however, I’m not sure that it’s all the way “fixed.” Pr. Clark still does refer to it as an evil “force” rather than directly calling it the work of Satan. In any event, it’s a positive development — one that I would hope is followed by further “improvements” in the form of a return to theological orthodoxy (i.e., Confessional Lutheranism) for Pr. Clark.�
[HT: Cranach Blog]
-ghp�
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