Early Church Biblical Ethics: Why they still matter (More than ever)
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Christians And the Moon Landings
On Social Media, a Number of Aberrant Christians Deny that Man Went to the Moon
They are the new Gnostics.
They Commit Two Major Sins.
–They Reject the Bible and the Standard it sets for Establishing the Truth of a Matter.
–They Slander Men of Faith and Courage.
Faithful Witnesses: The Resurrection, and The Moon Landings (Liink)
Hubris and Sloth are the underlying sins of those aberrant Christians who deny the Moon landings. Pray for their repentance.
I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.–Jesus
Matthew 10
21Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved….
32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
An outrageous example of the bane (the poison) of Memory-Verse-Theology derives from the saying of Jesus, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Ripped from its context, it gives to us Christians the warrant to march off to war and shed blood, a la these self-made, pseudo-theologians who put themselves forward as ‘teachers’ in the Church. [And these same wooden, illiterate literalists do the same with “Buy a sword…” Link ]
The parallel of this saying of Jesus in Luke 14:
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Both these passages address “The Conditions of Discipleship,” or in the title of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous classic, “The Cost of Discipleship.”
Here in Luke (as in Matthew) we see the “hyperbolic form, which is an authentic part of Jesus’ teaching…Nowhere is the diverse character of the Kingdom’s advent seen more clearly than in the severance of family loyalties” a la I. Howard Marshall in the New International Greek Testament Commentary. Such is a noted feature in Jesus’ parables. For examples see “Shock and Awe.” (Link) Hyperbole serves to grab the attention of Jesus’ listeners.
As to this hyperbolic saying in Luke (and in Matthew) about family, surely, any true Christian knows we are to love all people, even our enemies. (Link)
The Rapture’s Self-Contradiction
“God did not appoint us to wrath”–1 Thessalonians 5:9a.
“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” –Rev. 7
Left Behind enthusiasts, when told that First Thessalonians does not teach their Left Behind scenario (but rather the parousia, the Second Advent) quickly respond with that half of a verse taken from its whole context, which they left behind. “God did not appoint us to wrath”
(Be a disciple of Jesus and read that Verse in CONTEXT, here- LINK)
Social media are replete with Christians crying for that day, while rejecting any thought that they might have to face the great tribulation. “God did not appoint us to wrath.”
Yet, many Left Behinders point to their preparations for those who will be left behind. Years ago, a lady in our church stated that she had videos on her desk for family that would explain why they were left behind when she was gone. R. C. Sproul recounted a tour given by Kathryn Kuhlman of her office. She had a large closet safe with her radio program recordings so that the Gospel would still be preached should the Rapture come in her lifetime. (Apparently, she did not expect all of her staff nor all the Christian radio personnel to be raptured.)
Kevin Sorbo in his movie, The Rise of the Antichrist (2023), is left behind and convinced of the Gospel by a video left behind by the pastor of his ‘raptured’ wife. (Details and review of that movie, here—LINK)
Typically, a Jack Graham Powerpoint sermon, The Blessed Hope, turns Titus’ expectation of the Second Coming into The Rapture. “When the salt and light is (sic) gone, that is, true believers, then decay and darkness sets in….Hell will be unleashed on earth….then, terrible retribution…you don’t want to be left behind for the great tribulation.”
BUT what about those videos and books and letters left behind for families and friends by these Left Behinders? You mean none of them will be saved? What about Kevin Sorbo? Oh, you say, ‘yes, some will be saved during the great tribulation.’
The end result of the Left Behinder’s escape hatch exit to miss the great tribulation is that there will be no salt nor light nor shepherds for those new Christians like the Kevin Sorbos who will be saved after the ‘Rapture’ but who are condemned to suffer God’s wrath a la the Left Behind scenario.
End Result a la Left Behinders: 1) Christians will not suffer God’s wrath (a la the purpose of “Beam me up!” theology)……………………………… 2) New Christians saved during the Great Tribulation will suffer God’s wrath.
From Corrie Ten Boom:
Ukraine War: Blessed are the peacemakers.
“I have said before that the Ukraine war was not even in the interests of the USA, which worked so hard for so long to bring it about. “*** –Peter Hitchens, UK Christian author, journalist
Ukraine War: Key Points
Remember, Cuban Missile Crisis: We prepared and took Military Action to have Russian Missiles removed. Blockaded Cuba. Resolved by Diplomatic initiative.
NATO Crisis in Ukraine: Russia prepared and took Military Action After All Its Diplomatic initiatives were rebuffed by USA. (Minsk agreement, etc.)
RememberIRAQ Crisis? That country with missiles and a hostile, neoNazi army shelling residents on our own American border that we, the USA, did invade? (Do I have to say, “sarcasm”?)
1990 Germany Re-united After USA Gave Its Word: No NATO Expansion. USA Broke Its word to Russia. 2008 NATO Declares Ukraine will join. Red line for Russia.
February 9, 1990: U.S. Secretary of State James Baker gives ““iron-
clad guarantees” –NATO would not expand: “not one inch
eastward”– to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Declassified
documents show security assurances against NATO expansion given
to Soviet leaders by Sec. Baker, Pres. Bush, Genscher, Kohl, Gates, Mitterrand, et al.
2014 USA Backed Coup of Democratically Elected Government in Kiev. ***Now Revealed: USAID pumped Five Billion Dollar$ Into Kiev from 1991 to 2014. 4 February Phone Call (LINK) between Obama representative Victoria Nuland and USA Ambassador; Picking out who they would install as new government after the Coup; 21 Feb. Coup. Protesters Take Control. 22 Feb. Ukraine Parliament installs USA picked Leaders.
Russian Population in Donbass Protests New Government. 20 October, 2014, New York Times Reports: Ukraine launches USA Cluster Bombs into heart of Donetsk, city of over 1 million people.
“February 24, 2022, [Russian Military operation begins] was the expansion of a war between the two countries that had begun in February 2014“–Encyclopedia Britannica. February 28, Peace Talks Begin. March–Peace Deal reached. USA kills it. President Biden announces purpose of the proxy war we provoked: “Regime change” in Russia.
NOW, Half a Million BODIES of UKRAINE Soldiers. “Fighting to the last Ukrainian” a la President Biden and Senator Linsey Graham.
Israeli Prime Minister Bennett, served as diplomatic intermediary for the March, 2022, peace deal:
The WAR In the DONBASS Video THIS is when the war began: Ukraine shelling its Russian citizens.
Ukraine Debacle Key Quotes, here.
Full TIMELINE from start of the war in 2014 https://consortiumnews.com/2025/02/25/ukraine-timeline-tells-the-tale/
Zelenskyy elected President in 2019 as the “peace” candidate. He could not implement the MINSK accords which would have ended the fighting. since the Ukraine NeoNazis said they would hang him if he did so . https://zeitgeistcontext.wordpress.com/2023/02/25/ukraine-resource-photos-neonazis/
American Evangelicals either SILENT or WAR SUPPORTERS
The Rapture Teaching vs. The New Testament
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On I Thessalonians: Not Leaving Context Behind
While sitting with my bed-ridden mother during the afternoon, I outlined First Thessalonians after reading her a Psalm.
Paul ends this letter, “I charge you before the Lord to have this epistle read to all the brethren.”
In days gone by, when we received a letter in the mail from family or friends, we read the whole thing. When we pick up our Bibles and turn to any epistle, we should first read the whole thing before we begin a piecemeal reading of it.
Context makes clear the mistakes of that special sect of fellow American evangelicals who find their “Left Behind” drama and movies here in Thessalonians.
3:6 “But Timothy has just now come to us and has brought us good news…He has told us…”
Paul had waited eagerly for news about his Thessalonian converts. That is why they sent Timothy to them, 3:1,2.
This news prompts Paul to “pray to see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith” (3:10).
His prayer ends:
“…so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming [parousia] of our Lord Jesus with all his saints..”–3:13 {see also 2:19 “…For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming [parousia]? Is it not you?}
This is the New Testament hope, the Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ.
Then, Paul begins, “Finally…” (4:1) with exhortations on how to live. The last of these exhortations begins in chapter 4 at verse 13, encouraging them: “we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep,”
“that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”
THAT is the key concern of this section which begins at 4:13 and ends at 5:10, which points to Christ “who died for us, so that whether we live or die, we will live together with him.”
“Therefore encourage one another…”
The news which Timothy brought (3:6) must have included the concerns of some of those Christians at Thessalonica regarding fellow believers who had already died. Would they be at some disadvantage at the Coming of the Lord?
Addressing this concern is Paul’s focus in that section, where he writes about the Second Coming, the Parousia, (NOT the ‘Left Behind’ modern teaching).
The exposition of this section is here (link) 1 Thessalonians 4
.Be an honest student/disciple and read it in context. [Social Media stats show that almost no one follows through to read that text in context. That is the state of discipleship, today.]
“…no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). Link
Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. –2 Timothy 2:15
Augustine, On Genesis
In the beginning, God…
Augustine, Genesis, I.19.39
Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, . . . and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience.
Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men.
If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learned from experience and the light of reason?
Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although “they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertions” [1 Timothy 1:7]. (All emphases, mine)
John Calvin, in the 16th Century, made many wise comments on Genesis:
“He who would learn astronomy…let him go elsewhere….”
”Moses wrote in a popular style things which without instruction, all ordinary persons, endued with common sense, are able to understand; but astronomers investigate with great labor whatever the sagacity of the human mind can comprehend. Nevertheless, this study is not to be reprobated, nor this science to be condemned, because some frantic persons are wont boldly to reject whatever is unknown to them. For astronomy is not only pleasant, but also very useful to be known: it cannot be denied that this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God.”
See, also, In The Beginning
Shock and Awe in Parables of Jesus
What We Don’t Know of Jesus’ Times Deflates the Impact
The Pharisee and Publican Praying in the Temple
https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/the-publican-only-half-a-surprise/
The Publican, a Jewish tax collector, was a traitor, being hated as one who worked for the occupation force of a pagan power, Rome. In rabbinic literature “hatred was to be extended even to the family of the tax collector” (ISBE).
Just pointing to a tax collector praying in the Temple would have been a shock!
The Scandal of the Samaritan
https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/the-scandal-of-the-samaritan-2/
Jews despised Samaritans and viewed them as unclean foreigners. This went back in history to Assyria’s conquest of the Northern Kingdom….
Preface to The Good Samaritan : Of Lawyers, Language, and Learning (Link)
The Parable of the Dishonest Manager
https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/parables-surprise-and-the-american-mind/
“What?! The master praised this servant???”
A Yoke? (link)
A Mustard Seed
https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/a-mustard-seed/
“…smaller than all seeds…”
For the technical mind, “all” must mean “all.” But for a parable, it is a literary device to convey the point
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/jesus-parable-unforgiving-sin-forgive/
Ten Thousand Talents–Have you ever heard a tall tale, or an outlandish story to which you exclaimed, “WHAT???”
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Part Two
https://textsincontext.wordpress.com/2018/02/10/its-a-parable-part-two/
TextsInContext 