Category: Devotional

Devotional thoughts for my benefit and yours from here, there, and everywhere

May 21, 2011 – The Day the World Didn’t End… What Now?

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

My heart was affected deeply when I read this account of Robert Fitzpatrick, a New Yorker who spent over $100,000 to warn the world about May 21,2011. 6pm, the time the global earthquake marking the start of Judgement Day (and the rapture of the elect) should have reached New York City, came and went, and Fitzpatrick was left surprised. The New York Daily News was with him in Times Square soon after 6pm.

He said: “I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand.”

The 60-year-old said he had no regrets. “I did what I had to do,” he said.

“I’m just surprised – I don’t understand it. It’s locked in for 2011.”

“I obviously haven’t understood it properly because we’re still here,” he said.

“Let’s just say I’m surprised that nothing has happened – everything in the bible indicated it.” [source, also see this report]

I’m saddened because Fitzpatrick, and countless thousands of others, have been misled by an apparently well-intentioned, radio teacher, Harold Camping (of Family Radio).

What’s worse, is that the world has front-page headlines about how the rapture didn’t happen, and how “Bible-believing Christians” are just a bunch of end-times-frenzied cooks.

Please hear me now. This does not represent historical, orthodox Christianity. The Christianity which can trace its general teaching from now back to Jesus himself, has not embraced this nonsense. And if you are reading this and you are also one who was surprised, or disappointed, that May 21 didn’t turn out to be “the day”, please keep reading.

Christianity isn’t a religion based on being a good person and trying to follow the Bible and “doing what you have to do”, like Fitzpatrick believed he had done. It’s a life of faith and trust in what Jesus Christ has accomplished on our behalf. This isn’t about an elect few sneering at the loss masses around them. Instead it is depraved sinners, recognizing that apart from Christ we too, would be without hope and bound in our sin.

Jesus Christ bore our punishment, the judgment day that we deserved, on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ, God’s own Son – equal with God in power and glory, yet incarnate in human form – Jesus took our place. The Creator of this world, had a plan from before it began, to redeem a believing remnant of his fallen creatures and shower them with grace and joy for all eternity. His message is one of love, yet He is a God who will judge the world for sin. We will give account to God.

Jesus is our substitute, though, for those who have faith in Him. Jesus promises to accept all who come to Him, and He will not cast any of them out. Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross not only holds back the angry hand of God directed at us for our sin, it also turns God’s view of us into a loving and joyful embrace. Since we are united with Jesus Christ by our faith, God sees Jesus’ goodness when He looks at us. Our sins are gone, and our righteousness is infinite (since it is Jesus’ righteousness credited to us).

Through the Cross, God redeems His own people – those who repent of their sins and follow after Christ through continual faith and a desire to please Him – and He does more than that. He promises to remake this world – to undo the wrong that was done. He will rid the world of sin’s presence one day, at the Second Coming of Christ. And Jesus will reign and rule in splendor for all eternity with His own. The world will be a “new world”, and heaven will literally come down to earth.

Yes, Armageddon is part of this. God will judge sin. But the victory is sure, and it doesn’t depend on us recognizing the date or the hour, either! God’s people are to live lives that are eager for His coming – which is why they won’t be surprised when it does come. Their identity, their all and all, is Jesus. Sure they mess up and fail. Yes some of them get preoccupied with how bad the world is and all that needs fixing here and there. But at heart, all true believers know they aren’t better than anyone else. Instead they are thankful for God’s grace in their lives. They continue to hope, and the cling to the Word.

The Word of God is His message for us. But this message needs to be understood and read carefully. It is not an engineering text book, nor a blueprint or math game. It is a grand story. The story of Creation, Fall, Judgment, and Restoration. It is a story of God’s dealings with His people. The Bible says we aren’t to seek a “private interpretation”. God has given His people teachers down through the years and up through now. God says that in the Church He will be glorified through all ages, so the church age is not over (Eph. 3:21). In Bible-believing churches, there are safeguards from wide variety of radio, TV and internet teachers who would have us befuddled and confused. There are elders to guard the flock and safety in a multitude of counselors.

The mystery and hidden things of the Old Testament have been revealed in the New Testament. The church is the culmination of God’s plan for the ages. Jesus Christ is the final Word to mankind (see Hebrews 1). The Bible isn’t a jigsaw puzzle that’s intentionally obscure, it is a revelation of God’s will. The New Testament declares time and again that what was originally somewhat obscure has now been made plain for all through Christ. In fact, Paul and others believed they were living in the last days (see 1 Cor. 10:11 for an example). The last age is here. All that is left is for Christ to return and bring to consummation all His glorious promises for His own.

If May 21, which seemed so air-tight (when it comes to all the numerological connections that were given for it)– if May 21 is not the day, then perhaps you should consider that numerology is something not explicitly taught in Scripture. This whole approach to interpreting the Bible is bankrupt. I challenge those who had been believing Camping’s teaching to turn the radio off and go find a Bible-believing local church. Listen to the preaching and teaching for a while. Read the Bible without Camping’s books in front of you. Let God speak to you through His Word. He will guide you to the Truth.

If you have questions or comments, I’m happy to try and respond as I’m able in the comments section below or you can use the contact tab on the blog here, to talk to me privately. May God bless those who are in Fitzpatrick’s shoes tonight.

Picture credited Debbie Egan-Chin/News, accessible at this story page from New York Daily News.

Fighter Verses Song CD and Giveaway

~ Bob Hayton

Some friends of mine have been involved in putting Bible verses to music to help aid Bible memory. At my old church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, where Pastor John Piper ministers, they developed a Bible memory system called the Fighter Verse Program. Over the last several years, several church members have been writing songs to accompany the verses and the result has been a series of Bible memory song CDs.

I wanted to spread the word that they will be giving away five copies of their most recent CD. You can go to the Fighter Verse Songs blog for details on the giveaway. At their blog, you can listen to song samples, subscribe via RSS to the verses and songs, and learn more about the Fighter Verse Program.

The Reformed Expository Commentary Series, 50% off at WTSBooks.Com

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

I highly recommend the Reformed Expository Commentary Series from P & R Publishing. The commentaries are written by superb pastor-teachers from a Reformed standpoint. They deal with the exegetical questions but make sure to apply the text pastorally. And the series explicitly aims to be Christ-centered in its approach.

You can read my detailed review of Daniel Doriani’s commentary on James here. After reading that commentary, I have wanted to get the whole series. With this new sale at Westminster Bookstore, just announced, I was able to pick up the last volumes I don’t already have.

Here’s the scoop: if you purchase three or more titles, you can get a 50% discount. If you purchase the set, it’s 52%. Individual volumes are discounted 45%. Plus, if you purchase a few volumes you can qualify for the $1 shipping with UPS. On my order, it was only 1 buck total for shipping — you can’t beat that.

Check out the sample pages from the latest volume in the series, 1 Kings by Philip Graham Ryken.

Watch the trailer below, and read the series description, then go check out Westminster Bookstore’s sale.

Reformed Rap: The Sound of the Reformed Resurgence

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

Christianity Today recently highlighted Reformed Rap and Hip-Hop. Click here, to see a PDF of an entire page describing the key Reformed artists and this new phenomenon.

Some of the key rappers include: Trip Lee, currently a pastoral intern under Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist Church; Marcus Gray (Flame), studying for a master’s degree in biblical counseling at Southern Seminary; Curtis Allen (Voice), an assistant pastor in Maryland; Shai Linne; Timothy Brindle; and LeCrae. All of these men are involved in ministry beyond their music, and all are affected deeply by Reformed Theology.

Here are a few excerpts from CT’s write-up.

SPOTLIGHT: Reformed Rap and Hip-Hop

Not since Maranatha! and contemporary praise emerged from Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in the 1970s has a genre of Christian music become so associated with a specific stream of evangelicalism. And while not all Christian rappers are Reformed, nor do all see themselves as preachers and teachers working in a musical medium, the growing edge of the movement is explicitly taking its cues from Calvinist leaders. Several tracks have included direct references to (and even sermon clips from) John MacArthur, John Piper, C. J. Mahaney, and other pastors, and Curtis “Voice” Allen’s recent rap on the Westminster Catechism (with theologian D. A. Carson) went viral in March””as did his Heidelberg Catechism rap last October.

Is it the sound of Reformed resurgence?

While hip-hop has become a staple of young Reformed conferences, it’s not yet the dominant sound and it rarely appears in Reformed churches, said D. A. Carson. “I doubt that hip-hop with Reformed lyrics will ever become a primarily congregational corporate worship medium. It is a performance medium, and as such it is very useful for communicating with certain groups of people. . . . But that does not make it inappropriate for the more limited goals that it achieves quite strikingly at the moment.”

“The genre allows the rapper to cram loads of biblical and theological content in a single verse. I think we love hearing the Scripture “˜preached’ lyrically. Second, there is a “˜cool factor,’ which has helped bridge generational and cultural divides. But we can’t explain this without acknowledging the sovereign workings of God.” “” Thabiti Anyabwile, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman

“Reformed hip-hop is a theologically driven masculinity movement. It says no to the prom songs to Jesus in CCM, no to whiny emo Christian music for hipsters, and no to empty, shallow, individualistic Christian music lacking theological content produced out of Nashville.” “” Anthony Bradley, associate professor of theology and ethics at The King’s College and author of Liberating Black Theology

Many conservative Christians, and fundamentalists in particular, refuse to endorse rap music or hip-hop of any kind. They cannot think of the genre without its cultural associations with a sinful lifestyle. But conservative evangelical leaders see the value in this music and the movement under-girding it. John Piper has interviewed LeCrae personally, and Desiring God has produced a three part video interview of him as well. Desiring God partnered with LeCrae’s Reach Records for a Don’t Waste Your Life tour. Mark Driscoll has interviewed LeCrae too, and Mark Dever interviewed Voice and Shai Linne (see the video here).

I’ve highlighted this musical phenomenon before (here and here), and I encourage you to listen to the music before rejecting it out right. I have a CD by Timothy Brindle entitled Killing Sin, which is basically John Owen’s On the Mortification of Sin translated into a new medium. Shai Linne has a CD called The Atonement which explains in depth the intricacies of limited atonement, substitutionary atonement and more. The music requires a high degree of lyrical intricacy, poetry and a command of language, not to mention an artistic sense. The songs these men are producing are excellent and filled with God honoring lyrics. Check out Reach Records or Lampmode Recordings for audio samples and lyrics.

I pray the Reformed Rap movement will continue to pick up steam and influence the hearts and minds of many people for Christ.

The Superlative of Grace

~ Bob Hayton

Bob Bixby comments on the sad case of a fundamentalist preacher pretending that he was a former Navy SEAL. In his thoughts, he explores why it is that preachers especially have a need to be special. I think his answer is correct and it offers a chance for all of us to revel in God’s grace for poor ordinary sinners like us.

Here’s an excerpt, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

A fundamentalist pastor confessed to lying about being a Navy Seal. Why? Why would a pastor lie like this?

Former Navy Seal Don Shipley suggests that part of the problem is just being clergy. You can almost hear the disdain in his voice:

“We deal with these guys all the time, especially the clergy. It’s amazing how many of the clergy are involved in those lies to build that flock up,” Shipley said. (source)

Jim Moats graduated from Bob Jones University in 1974, pastors a rural KJV-only church and, per the church website, associates with the far-right elements of Independent Baptist Fundamentalism. The story is very sad, but it is telling.

There are so many things to glean from the story. I’ll name a few:

* American evangelicals in general (particularly conservative/fundamentalist evangelicals) put such a premium on patriotism and American exceptionalism that they are particularly vulnerable to a “Jesus-Made-in-America” ideology.
* The American military is consequently so idealized (idolized?) that many clergy inflate their military experience in order to boost an aura of authority and heroism around them for the sake of a much-craved-for respect. (I remember hearing fantastic Vietnam stories from fundamentalist leaders when I was a kid and when I began to read military history assiduously as a young man I started developing a suspicion about the credibility of some of the stories that I had heard. I felt I had been tricked into adulating a spiritual leader on the basis of stories that were, because of my voracious reading in military history, were becoming increasingly unbelievable to me.)
* Fundamentalists, particularly, are prone to yarn-spinning leaders because of a distorted understanding of the Gospel.

The reason we embellish our stories is because we cannot embrace the reality of our nothingness. But it is our nothingness that makes God’s grace so amazing. The brother who is being publicly embarrassed right now was caught in a story that he let develop and then ultimately promoted because it met a deep personal need in his life. He needed to feel like he was somebody. Why are you brothers and sisters in the fundamentalist circles who read my blog so offended when I, your brother in Christ, ask a very simple question:

What kind of gospel do you proclaim when your leaders “” your leaders! “” are so afraid to admit error, be real, and be nothing?

Read the whole piece here.